[bkfunk]

> off-patent

Well there’s your problem: no one can make money off of it, unless they develop a new delivery mechanism, etc.

Patents encourage developing new medicines, but not developing new knowledge about (never mind use of) old medicine.

The solution (in the US) is obvious: federal funding of research that stands to help lots of people but not make lots of money. Since most of these patients (in the US) are going to be on Medicare, there could be huge potential cost savings to the taxpayer: memory care is EXPENSIVE, so even the paltry amount covered by Medicare racks up (and the opportunity costs of people paying for private memory care is enormous).

But instead of increasing funding for this kind of life- AND MONEY-saving research, this administration is freezing and slashing research funding, and specifically targeting Columbia for political/Trump’s-petty-grudge reasons.

[cyberax]

> Well there’s your problem: no one can make money off of it

You can patent new applications of an existing drug. This has been somewhat of a problem, as companies can just look at how drugs are being used off-label, and patent some of these uses.

[missedthecue]

People are doing this with vetinary drugs too. A company called Tarsus Pharmaceuticals recently developed a drug called xdemvy by repurposing an anti-flea drug for dogs. It basically cures an eyelid condition called demodex blepharitis. They're a $2b company now.

They barely had to do any new science. It just took some creativity and almost $250m worth of clinical trials.

[absolutelastone]

I suspect the lucrative patent system has helped create rather exorbitant costs and restrictions for performing trials, which hinders non-patentable research, ironically.

But both the federal and state govts do fund tons of such research. Some states have specific Alzheimer's trials and funds. I would think they could handle dirt-cheap therapies like this without getting into sweeping political changes. Though I suspect the solution is much harder than just run a trial with the drugs we have, or else we would already be hearing about mountains of evidence from doctors using the medications off-label.

[bookofjoe]

>Well there’s your problem: no one can make money off of it, unless they develop a new delivery mechanism, etc.

You hit the nail on the head. Ketamine is a generic drug that costs next to nothing; Spravoto (ketamine-derived nasal spray) is already a billion dollar/year drug for Johnson & Johnson, with prospects of $5 billion/year.

Source: https://archive.ph/rzqxt [Wall Street Journal]

[alzamos]

Worth mentioning that the evidence says that patents don't have an effect on new drug creation/inventions. Evidence is collected here http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/againstfinal.ht..., pretty neat to know that Italy/Switzerland had a patentless pharma industry until quite recently.

Having said that, I think you're right that under this system, research/capital definitely gets directed in a different way.

[missedthecue]

A major reason Alzheimer's research hasn't advanced in the last 25 years is that patents aren't long enough to study it. Remember: patents don't kick in after the FDA approved your drug. It's after you develop it. That's why ozempic is going off-patent in a just few years even though it's a new product. They patented it a long time ago.

With Alzheimer's though, the clinical trials are going to take a long time. Probably 10 years at least, because our current understanding of the disease is that it begins in your mid to late 40s, and only manifests as severe memory loss decades later. Our current method of trying to treat it is like putting someone in pallatiave care with stage 12 cancer through chemo. Just doesn't work.

But drug companies have no choice because if they run 10-15 year trials, their drug will be off patent before the FDA/EMA even looks at it.

If I were King for a day, one thing I'd do is a blanket 40 year patent life on Alzheimer's drugs. It's worth the cost. This disease will bankrupt every nation otherwise.

[cyberax]

This is bullshit. Drug research costs money, A LOT OF MONEY. A new drug right now costs somewhere around $5 billion, mostly because 90% of drugs fail in trials.

mRNA vaccines, semaglutide, mAB therapies, none of these would have happened without patents as an incentive.