Environment | Health

Random Nuggets: Patents, Generics, and Climate Change

The IHT reported two interesting pharma related news items.

• It may be high season for patent reform in the US. According to the IHT, Democratic control of Congress, pressure to control healthcare costs, and lobbying by the high-tech industry for weaker patent legislation and protection from frivolous patent infringement suits might finally overturn the stranglehold of big pharma on the debate. This is important if you believe the patent system is restricting pharma innovation and affordability. So perhaps CPTech should be working with MS (Microsoft), not MSF.
• Ranbaxy, the largest Indian drugmaker, is likely to bid for the generics unit of Merck, Germany. The deal could potentially be about US$ 6 billion, which would explain why Ranbaxy shares have fallen 25% since Ranbaxy announced its intentions.
• Climateer Investing left a comment on a previous post, providing the link to the recent Lehmann Brothers report, The Business of Climate Change. Climateer also has a link to the press release for the UBS report Climate Change: Beyond Whether (though I did not find the report itself).

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