I enjoyed the article by Alan Walton and Frederick Frank entitled "Translational disconnect," in which they discuss ways to approach the crisis in bioscience innovation. 1 I applaud the establishment of the Committee on Bioscience Innovations, of which I knew nothing until reading this article.
I have two suggestions for improving the performance of pharmaceutical companies in the discovery of novel pharmaceuticals for diseases, old and new. The first is to increase patent protection from 17 to 25 years. The second is to ban advertising of medical products, especially on TV, a suggestion that would eliminate the huge advertising budgets of the pharmaceutical companies, which exceeds the amount spent on research in much of Big Pharma, and would liberate the funds for needed research.
Arnold Demain
Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti
Drew University
Madison, NJ
ademain@drew.edu
Walton and Frank point out "that many foreign students return to their own countries ...
