Intellectual Property Rights and the Life Science Industries Past, Present and Future

This book is a highly readable and entertaining account of the co-evolution of the patent system and the life science industries since the mid-19th century. The pharmaceutical industries have their origins in advances in synthetic chemistry and in natural products research. Both approaches to drug discovery and business have shaped patent law, as have the lobbying activities of the firms involved and their supporters in the legal profession. In turn, patent law has impacted on the life science industries. Compared to the first edition, which told this story for the first time, the present edition focuses more on specific businesses, products and technologies, including Bayer, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, aspirin, penicillin, monoclonal antibodies and polymerase chain reaction. Another difference is that this second edition also looks into the future, addressing new areas such as systems biology, stem cell research, and synthetic biology, which promises to enable scientists to ?invent? life forms from scratch.Contents: Seven Tales of a Patent; Patents and the Life Science Industries in the Modern Economy; Past: Dyes, Drugs and Domagk; Adrenaline Rushes ? Isolate, Purify ? and Patent; Science and Drug Discovery ? Ignorance, Serendipity and Rational Drug Design; Aspirin; Insulin; Penicillin and the Antibiotics; Cortisone and the Steroids; Polymerase Chain Reaction; The Gene Patent Wars; Innovations without Patents? The Polio Vaccine and Monoclonal Antibodies; Present: Big Pharma, Small Biotech; Crises, Backlashes and Counter-backlashes; Would We Have Got Where We are Today without Patents?; Future: Systems Biology, Stem Cells, ?Synbio? and the Future of Patents.