Productivity Commission Draft Report on Intellectual Property Arrangements

Medicines Australia notes the release of the draft report from the Productivity Commission concerning Australia’s Intellectual Property (IP) arrangements.

While the 400 page draft has only just been made available, we do have a number of concerns with the interim-findings which we believe may inadvertently lead to public misunderstanding of patents and IP as it applies to medicines.

To address this, we will be responding to the draft report, with the key concerns outlined in our original submission remaining pertinent.

We look forward to working with the Commission to better understand their initial conclusions and help to provide insights for their consideration before the final report is delivered.

Intellectual Property directly benefits patients by driving and incentivising Research and Development (R&D) of the latest breakthrough therapies to treat and cure disease. It is imperative that Australia maintains a strong, robust IP system to ensure that all Australians can continue to have a first world health system with early access to the latest innovative treatments.

It must be remembered that generic medicines (copies of innovative medicines) would not exist if it was not for the high risk and costly R&D undertaken and supported by innovative pharmaceutical companies.

Our members spend approximately $1 billion every year on R&D in Australia. IP is one important factor among many which is taken into consideration before these investment decisions are made. Maintaining an environment that supports this investment is crucial for the thousands of Australian scientists, research organisations, Universities and local Biotechs which rely on this investment from our members to discover and innovate for the benefit of all Australians.

Contact:

James Boyce
Phone: 0423 239 265
Email: James.Boyce@medicinesaustralia.com.au