You betcha.  The business model of Big Pharma depends on patents.  Without strong, enforceable patents, privately-funded pharmaceutical research would not exist.

Case in point:  Gilead sells the highly effective ‘Solvadi’ hepatitis C drug for $1000 per pill.  That’s $84,000 for a twelve-week course.  Idenix,  a Merck subsidiary, argued that Gilead’s Solvadi infringed Idenix patents.  A jury in the U.S. District Court in Delaware agreed and awarded Idenix damages of $2.54 billion.  That’s billion with a ‘b.’  Is this case over?  Highly unlikely.   The Apple v Samsung $399 million judgment for design patent infringement looks puny by comparison. Incidentally, the same twelve-week course of treatment in India costs about $336.00.

–Robert Yarbrough, Esq.