So I kind of wonder what would happen if a country just decided to ignore all patents and copyrights one day. Like just gathered all the intel they could on making all the medications out there, spin up a factory making their generic version then just only used those moving forward for their country. Maybe even selling it to other countries as well if there is demand. Clearly companies would be pissed because it would undercut their profits but what can they really do. Sueing them only works if the country cares to pay, and I don’t see many people wanting to go to war with another country because they brought the costs of medication down.
They’d have to get other governments to try to sanction them, but if my options were to sanction a country, or buy medications at a much lower price thereby bringing down healthcare costs and increasing access to healthcare for our population… Maybe enough countries would just let it go and other countries would join in on making their own ignoring the patents as well.
Literally how the generic pharma industry works. Companies specialising in generics often push against the limits of IP and/or ignore them to bring cheap generics to market, and deal with lawsuits (or not) later. See Israel, India, and Switzerland.
So I kind of wonder what would happen if a country just decided to ignore all patents and copyrights one day. Like just gathered all the intel they could on making all the medications out there, spin up a factory making their generic version then just only used those moving forward for their country. Maybe even selling it to other countries as well if there is demand. Clearly companies would be pissed because it would undercut their profits but what can they really do. Sueing them only works if the country cares to pay, and I don’t see many people wanting to go to war with another country because they brought the costs of medication down.
They’d have to get other governments to try to sanction them, but if my options were to sanction a country, or buy medications at a much lower price thereby bringing down healthcare costs and increasing access to healthcare for our population… Maybe enough countries would just let it go and other countries would join in on making their own ignoring the patents as well.
You basically described China
Many countries do that. Countries like India have limited patent protection. It’s why medications are so cheap there.
The “free market” was always a lie in America
Literally how the generic pharma industry works. Companies specialising in generics often push against the limits of IP and/or ignore them to bring cheap generics to market, and deal with lawsuits (or not) later. See Israel, India, and Switzerland.