WHO Hubris

From misappropriating IP to taxation without representation and poor pandemic management, what’s to like about the WHO? My recent piece in the Financial Post, here.

Reality Check

Here is the second of two papers I’ve written on Canada’s dysfunctional drug pricing system. This one takes a wider view of the intellectual deception and myths that sustain our self-defeating approach to the pharmaceutical industry.

The Kindest Cut

In the first of two papers for the Macdonald-Laurier institute examining the history and impact of drug price controls in Canada, I argue for doing away with the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board and leading nations toward a more equitable sharing of the costs of pharmaceutical development. The first paper is here, and the second will be published shortly.

Richard C. Owens: On vaccine patents, the logic of bandits

Perhaps private enterprise and intellectual property have never served us so well as during the COVID-19 pandemic when, with sudden vaccines and numerous new therapies, the life sciences industry saved the world. In spite of that, short-sighted and spiteful people argue for seizing the intellectual property, of all types, relating to COVID-19 vaccines, therapies and devices through a World Trade Organization intellectual property waiver. In the Financial Post, I write why this is a bad idea. My op-ed is here.