(De-)assetizing pharmaceutical patents: Patent contestations behind a blockbuster drug

Théo Bourgeron; Susi Geiger

doi:10.1080/03085147.2022.1987752

(De-)assetizing pharmaceutical patents: Patent contestations behind a blockbuster drug

Théo Bourgeron^*, Susi Geiger^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Social and Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Recent debates in public health and social sciences have shown how biofinancialization has been fuelled by patents’ transformation into ‘patent-as-assets’. This paper traces the historical construction of one such patent-as-asset bundle: the multi-billion worth architecture of patents behind the hepatitis C blockbuster drug sofosbuvir. Following this process from the late 1980s to present times, we highlight the ontological entanglements of pharmaceutical patents and the scientific, legal, commercial and political contestations that result from the focal firms’ assetization projects. By shining a light on these entanglements, our paper points to the extraordinary historical conditions required for the assetization of drug patents as well as to their vulnerability to contestations. In particular, we highlight new forms of patent activism that threaten the ‘asset condition’ of high-priced pharmaceuticals.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	23-45
Number of pages	23
Journal	Economy and Society
Volume	51
Issue number	1
Early online date	7 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2022.1987752
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2022

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

access to medicines
assetization
hepatitis C
patent activism
patents
pharmaceuticals

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10.1080/03085147.2022.1987752Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

BourgeronGeiger2022ESDe-AssetizingPharmaceuticalPatentsFinal published version, 636 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

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title = "(De-)assetizing pharmaceutical patents: Patent contestations behind a blockbuster drug",

abstract = "Recent debates in public health and social sciences have shown how biofinancialization has been fuelled by patents{\textquoteright} transformation into {\textquoteleft}patent-as-assets{\textquoteright}. This paper traces the historical construction of one such patent-as-asset bundle: the multi-billion worth architecture of patents behind the hepatitis C blockbuster drug sofosbuvir. Following this process from the late 1980s to present times, we highlight the ontological entanglements of pharmaceutical patents and the scientific, legal, commercial and political contestations that result from the focal firms{\textquoteright} assetization projects. By shining a light on these entanglements, our paper points to the extraordinary historical conditions required for the assetization of drug patents as well as to their vulnerability to contestations. In particular, we highlight new forms of patent activism that threaten the {\textquoteleft}asset condition{\textquoteright} of high-priced pharmaceuticals.",

keywords = "access to medicines, assetization, hepatitis C, patent activism, patents, pharmaceuticals",

author = "Th{\'e}o Bourgeron and Susi Geiger",

note = "Funding Information: This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 771217). We are very grateful for the research assistance of Mr Stephen Nicola who contributed to the fieldwork and to the writing of the findings section. We would like to thank Prof Paul Langley and our anonymous referees for their close and constructive engagement with this manuscript. An early version of this paper was presented at the 2019 4S Annual Conference in the open panel {\textquoteleft}Organizing technoscientific capitalism: Epistemic values, practices & assets{\textquoteright}, and we would like to thank the panel organizers and participants for their encouraging feedback on our presentation. ",

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AB - Recent debates in public health and social sciences have shown how biofinancialization has been fuelled by patents’ transformation into ‘patent-as-assets’. This paper traces the historical construction of one such patent-as-asset bundle: the multi-billion worth architecture of patents behind the hepatitis C blockbuster drug sofosbuvir. Following this process from the late 1980s to present times, we highlight the ontological entanglements of pharmaceutical patents and the scientific, legal, commercial and political contestations that result from the focal firms’ assetization projects. By shining a light on these entanglements, our paper points to the extraordinary historical conditions required for the assetization of drug patents as well as to their vulnerability to contestations. In particular, we highlight new forms of patent activism that threaten the ‘asset condition’ of high-priced pharmaceuticals.

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(De-)assetizing pharmaceutical patents: Patent contestations behind a blockbuster drug

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