Every major drug company conducts extensive research and development to create brand name prescription medicines. In return, a government grants the pharmaceutical company a patent on a new drug, that is, the exclusive right to make and sell it. A patent is temporary, though. After it expires, other companies can copy the brand name drug, producing an inexpensive generic version having similar ingredients and benefits.

James Connaught represents the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Alliance. “We actively lobby the government to endorse agreements that, once made law, would allow pharmaceutical companies to extend the duration of drug patent protections or even make them permanent,” says Connaught. “In developing their products, pharmaceutical companies invest billions of dollars in exhaustive research and testing. Even products verified as safe sometimes incur lawsuits. To absorb all these costs, drug companies must stay profitable—so the government must strengthen patent laws.”

Connaught considers generic drug makers akin to parasites. “They don’t do research and development; they don’t take the financial risks involved in launching new drugs; they don’t innovate. They just skim off profits from other companies, without contributing anything of their own.”

Heather Weiller of the Affordable Health Alliance (AHA), a consumer advocacy group, has a different perspective. “Big Pharma is a big rip-off. Medications are a necessity, not a luxury, so the government should ensure they’re affordable—that is, friendly to generics. Even with generics nibbling at their profit margins, Big Pharma profits are still astronomical. Private health insurance companies know that, and won’t reimburse consumers for brand names if there’s a cheaper generic available. In that respect, generics are essential. Governments shouldn’t collude with pharmaceutical companies to stall generics or keep them off the market. If anything, drug patent protections should be weakened.”

In fact, Weiller credits generic drug makers for saving the lives of millions around the globe. “If not for generic drugs, the governments of some developing countries couldn’t afford basic medications for their citizens at all. In effect, laws that hasten or at least preserve drug patent expiries assist the developing world.”