Lilly CEO John Lechleiter: "I believe China will make a significant contribution to medical innovation in this century.”
Sales too (the Chinese market for pharmaceuticals is currently ranked the 7th largest in the world - and could jump to number three as soon as next year) – but that’s not the point. Lechleiter is thinking outside the box and it’s not the marketing and sales box.
According to the Pink Sheet, “Lilly has also begun linking an expanding array of Chinese scientists into its globe-spanning virtual research network. Eli Lilly's Robert Armstrong, one of the earliest advocates of replacing the R&D silos of traditional pharmaceutical companies with research networks that stretch from West to East, said in an earlier interview that Lilly is racing to construct a "dynamic matrix of partnerships across the globe aimed at R&D."
Lechleiter: "China is uniquely situated to play a key role in global pharmaceutical research and development … A growing number of Chinese scientists educated in other countries are returning home, adding to the tremendous human capital of this country and setting the stage for further innovation-driven growth. The 'brain drain' has become the 'brain gain' here in China.”
And, “As China seeks to expand its R&D base, what can this nation do to build its great potential to participate in the global innovation economy of the future?"
His primary suggestion involves IP rights – and rightfully so.
Leichleiter: "Above all there must be strong protection of intellectual property. China has made significant progress in intellectual property protection, developing a patent regime aligned with international systems. This is an essential first step to help foster innovation, but it is indeed just the first step.”
And without question there’s work to be done. In December 2009 China passed a new patent law that will allow domestic Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturers to manufacture knock-offs of on-patent medicines – and export them to third countries. According to Yin Xintian, director the regulations department of China’s State Intellectual Property Office, the new law will “ensure patients can get the drugs they need when they need them.”
Intellectual property rights are the fertile soil that facilitates the tree of pharmaceutical innovation to grow in the first place. To borrow an over-used adjective from the world of global climate change -- we must protect "sustainable" innovation. Jamie Love and Company may very well say, "A world without patents, amen." And they're right, because minus pharmaceutical IPR we'd all better start saying our prayers -- because that's the only way we're going to battle disease and improve the health of our global fraternity. That's a Silent Spring we cannot afford.
Leichleiter then issued a more general call for “conditions.”
"Creating and maintaining the conditions for innovation to flourish is challenging and complicated work - work that is never finished.”
Indeed.
Might this call for more “flourishing” conditions also include a regulatory “third way” to counterbalance both the FDA and EMEA? (Oops, I meant EMA).
Stay tuned.
