Pharma raises revenue and extends patents by finding new markets for existing drugs
Drug companies will alter existing drug compounds very slightly to extend patent life, and another method pharma uses raise revenue and extend patents is to find new market worlds to conquer for an existing drug—by doing research that will get it used by kids or for a diagnosis different from the one originally approved. The market geniuses guide the research effort, not the science types, and the result is predictable—great sales, lousy discovery.
References
- Frances, Allen. (2013). Saving Normal CHAPTER 3. Diagnostic Inflation (p. 129). New York, NY: HarperCollins.