Liability
You all know I am not a pro Big Pharma guy but this is outrageous. This from the Wall Street Journal:
Can a drug company be held liable for damages caused by generic drugs it didn’t produce? That’s the expansive new theory of “innovator liability” on parade in Alabama, where a recent ruling by the state Supreme Court could do damage throughout the U.S. economy. In Wyeth Inc. et al., v. Danny Weeks et al., Mr. Weeks says he suffered from side effects from taking the generic version of an acid-reflux drug called Reglan. He sued Wyeth for fraud and misrepresentation, though the company didn’t make the drug he took and had exited the Reglan market in 2002, five years before he took it. The court ruled 8-1 that Wyeth could be held liable for injuries because the generic manufacturer couldn’t change the warnings on the product it copied.
This is what limits innovation. I mean, c’mon man, are you serious?
As my children, who live in Alabama would say, WTF?
Does the public understand why innovation has crossed the Atlantic and no longer is the US the master of medicine and discovery? This is why medicine is in a sorry state. Has anyone heard of individual responsibility? Oh, I forgot, if the children in Washington DC can’t take responsibility, led by the teenager himself, then why should the public.
Wife: “Why is Alabama a state?”
Me: “Everybody makes mistakes.”
Believe me, you’d hate it down here! Stay up north where it’s safe and civilized, and us Illiterates will get by the best we can.
I’ve never understood why patents on drugs have an expiration, when other intellectual properties do not. This seems grossly unfair to whoever invents a new drug – why should there be a ‘right’ to generics?
Where is the fairness in, on the one hand, being deprived of legitimate profits for one’s invention, and yet still be sued for it?