[POSTPONED] Change in Patent Regime and the Role of Branded and Generic Drugs on Price and Quantity: Evidence from the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry from 1995-2009

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HKUST IEMS Academic Seminar

[Update 2016.11.08] The event is postponed due to unexpected travel delays. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Please stay tuned to this web page for further updates.

Abstract

Policies on drug patents can promote innovation but are controversial given the opposing effect price has on the development and affordability of medicines. Prof Nandkumar’s study of the Indian pharmaceutical industry finds links between firm competition and drug patent strength by examining patents reintroduced into 18 disease categories over a 14-year period. The work is in two stages. First, it explores how the strength of drug patents influences market share between original drugs and their generic counterparts, as well as overall market compositions. Second, it examines how these compositional changes alter both market prices and consumption within those markets. The findings suggest that stronger drug patent regimes increase the number of original and generic drugs brought to market by stimulating technology transfer in the former case and imitation in the latter. The increase to both prices and consumption within a market correlates with the market share of branded drugs due to a preference for them. This research highlights the underappreciated, long-term effect of how drug patents can stimulate the entry of newer, more sophisticated products into pharmaceutical markets.

About the Speaker

Prof Anand Nandkumar is Academic Director as well as an Associate Professor of Strategy at the Indian School of Business's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, His research explores industry and firm level phenomena which influences innovation and entrepreneurship; the generation of new ideas and their distribution and commercialization. Prof Nandkumar’s focuses on high-tech industries such as pharmaceuticals, bio-technology and software, falling between industrial organization and the economics of technological change and strategy. Within the entrepreneurship stream, he is currently studying the influence of venture capitalists on entrepreneurial performance; while in innovation, he is examining the effect of stronger intellectual property rights on different aspects of innovation, such as its influence on long-run incentives and the operation of Markets for Technology (MFT). Prof Nandkumar graduated with a PhD in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008 focusing on strategy and entrepreneurship.

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