Category: Research

The role of TRIPS in encouraging pharmaceutical technological diffusion in developing countries

Iain Cockburn, Tim Wilsdon, Michele Pistollato, Rajini Jayasuriya, and Thomas Watson

The 1995 TRIPS Agreement between member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) defines minimum standards of intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement.

US Insurer Spending on Ivermectin Prescriptions for COVID-19

Insurers heavily subsidize the cost of ivermectin prescriptions for COVID, despite the lack of evidence that ivermectin is effective for COVID. In a new paper, published in JAMA, Questrom professor and TPRI co-lead Rena Conti with colleagues Kao-Ping Chua and Nora Becker (both University of Michigan) estimate that U.S. insurers may have wasted $2.5 million on these drugs in the week of August 13, 2021 alone.

Addressing the trade-off between lower drug prices and incentives for pharmaceutical innovation

TPRI faculty co-lead and Questrom faculty Rena Conti will testify at the upcoming U.S. House of Representatives hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, entitled “Unsustainable Drug Prices: Findings from the Committee’s Drug Pricing Investigation and the Need for Structural Reforms.” on Friday, December 10, 2021, at 10 a.m. Professor Conti will discuss recently published papers germane to the current public debate on lowering prescription drug prices.

Declining Industrial Disruption

James Bessen, Erich Denk, Joowon Kim, Cesare Righi

This paper reports the first recent estimates of trends in the displacement of industry-leading firms. Displacement hazards rose for several decades since 1970 but have declined sharply since 2000. Using a production function-based model to explore the role of investments, acquisitions, and lobbying, we find that investments by dominant firms in intangibles, especially software, are distinctly associated with greater persistence and reduced leapfrogging.