In today’s episode, Matt Prewitt engages in a thought-provoking dialogue with Tahir Amin, the Co-Founder and CEO of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK). Together, they delve into the history of the patent and trademark systems – flaws and all, especially within the pharmaceutical realm. Tahir, drawing from his experience as a former intellectual property lawyer turned reform advocate, sheds light on how these systems have been manipulated by large corporations to prolong monopolies rather than foster invention. He proposes substantial reforms to address these systemic issues, advocating for a fundamental restructuring of the patent system. This insightful conversation highlights the complexities and challenges within the patent system and the quest for a more just and equitable approach to intellectual property.

Links & References:

References:

I-MAK
World Trade Organization (WTO)
"Battle of Seattle" | 1999 Seattle WTO protests
History of patent law - Wikipedia
Why Intellectual Property Rights? A Lockean Justification
Justifying Intellectual Property by Robert P. Merges
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution – ArtI.S8.C8.1 Overview of Congress's Power Over Intellectual Property
United States Patent and Trademark Office - Wikipedia
33:14 Statstisc Peace and Science - when generics patent
When Do Generics Challenge Drug Patents? | C. Scott Hemphill and Bhaven N. Sampat
Investing in Ex Ante Regulation: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Patent Examination | NBER | Michael D. Frakes & Melissa F. Wasserman
How a Drug Company Made $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent System - The New York Times
The Burden of Patent Thickets – I-MAK
4 Economic evaluation | NICE health technology evaluations: the manual | Guidance
Do not get sold on drug advertising - Harvard Health
USA and New Zealand | Direct-to-consumer advertising - Wikipedia
Biosimilars Basics for Patients | FDA.
Biologics, Biosimilars and Patents: A Beginner's Guide – I-MAK
Patent Reform – I-MAK

Bios:

Tahir Amin LL.B., Dip.LP., is a founder and CEO of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), a non-profit organisation working to address the structural power and inequities of the intellectual property (IP) system and how medicines are developed and distributed. He has over 25 years of experience in IP law, during which he has practised with two of the leading IP law firms in the United Kingdom and served as IP Counsel for multinational corporations. His work focuses on re-defining and re-shaping IP laws and the related global political economy to better serve the public interest and commons, by changing the structural power dynamics that allow economic and health inequities to persist. He is a former Harvard Medical School Fellow in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, a TED and Echoing Green Fellow. He has served as legal advisor/consultant to many international and intergovernmental organisations, including the Medecines Sans Frontieres, the European Patent Office, World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, and has testified before the U.S. Congress on IP and unsustainable drug prices.

Tahir’s Social Links:

Matt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation.

Matt’s Social Links:

ᴍᴀᴛᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴡɪᴛᴛ (@m_t_prewitt) / X

Production Credits:

Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.
Co-Produced and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides.
Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.
Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

Additional Credits:

This episode was recorded by Matt Prewitt.

This is a RadicalxChange Production.

Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation:

Tahir Amin: Co-Founder & CEO of I-MAK

RadicalxChange(s)

Rethinking Social Structures and Intellectual Property Integrity

The AI-powered Podcast Player