Patents and Innovations in Biotechnology

Azar Mehrabadi | Pages 13-18 | BioTeach Online Journal | Vol. 1 | Fall 2003

Patents allow inventors to have unique access to a market for a set period of time, giving the inventors monopoly control and/or market exclusivity on the sale of their innovation. The monopoly control provided by patents not only provides for a return on the relatively high cost of research and development that went into the innovation, but also provides rather high profits as a result of the monopoly and its duration. Excess profits serve to attract capital investors who then create jobs in the biotechnology industry, increase the rate of research, and cause new innovations in drug treatments and therapies to be undertaken, subsequently benefiting the people of the world. But perhaps not all of the people of the world...