> One example is first patenting the left version of a molecule then patenting the right version (mirror image).
Just a small correction for accuracy; they actually patent the 50/50 mixture of both versions first. And then they patent the purified version that only contains the active enantiomer ("mirror image").
Because of how biology works, turns out that the "wrong" mirror image (that is absent from the new version of the drug) was in fact really inactive, doesn't do anything, and thus offers no advantage over the old version, except being covered by a new patent to milk.
These are the kind of drug research "advances" that the rest of the world is supposedly freeloading off of.
It's not freeloading, it's being dominated by a multi-billion dollar global marketing budget.
Just a small correction for accuracy; they actually patent the 50/50 mixture of both versions first. And then they patent the purified version that only contains the active enantiomer ("mirror image").
Because of how biology works, turns out that the "wrong" mirror image (that is absent from the new version of the drug) was in fact really inactive, doesn't do anything, and thus offers no advantage over the old version, except being covered by a new patent to milk.
These are the kind of drug research "advances" that the rest of the world is supposedly freeloading off of.
It's not freeloading, it's being dominated by a multi-billion dollar global marketing budget.