On this episode of Mostly Economics, Dean Baker talks with Tahir Amin, co-founder and CEO of I-MAK and co-author of Pharma Monopoly, about how drug patents drove up prices and blocked vaccines during the pandemic. Find out how a drug like Humira made $114 billion off patent monopolies and more. -- Follow Tahir Amin https://bsky.app/profile/tahiramin.bsky.social https://x.com/realtahiramin Follow Dean Baker and CEPR: https://x.com/deanbaker13 https://x.com/ceprdc https://bsky.app/profile/deanbaker13.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/ceprdc.bsky.social

Mostly Economics Podcast #44: How Patents Made Our Medicine Cost More with Tahir Amin

Mostly Economics

We have this incredibly bloated financial sector. It's a phony crisis. They don't have to be cuts. We know how to get out of the Great Depression. You spend money. If we take a look at the typical worker, they're not doing fine.

Hi, I'm Dean Baker, the host for Mostly Economics. Today we are with us Tahir Amin, who's a legal expert on intellectual property and is the co-founder of the Initiative for Medicine and Access to Knowledge. And also the co-author of the recent book with Rohit Malpani, Pharma Monopoly, The Battle for the Future of Medicine. So thanks for joining us Tahir. Thanks Dean. Thanks for having me on.

So I want to begin where you begin with the book. The story of the effort to get waivers in the WTO during the pandemic for vaccines first and foremost, but treatments, tests. And, you know, as you point out, it basically went nowhere. And I'll just say, you know, you were in the middle of this, but I was just following it from a distance and, you know, kind of had me pulling on my hair what I have left of it.

You know, because you go, okay, here we have this worldwide pandemic, people are dying, and we're arguing over the legalities of, you know, under what terms can you, and, you know, to my mind, and maybe this is stupid, but I'm just thinking, why didn't you just tell everyone to make it available? You know, anyone who can produce anything, and we'll figure out after the fact who owes what. I just like, you know, because that's kind of irreversible, you know, people die, you can't bring them back.

Mostly Economics Podcast #44: How Patents Made Our Medicine Cost More with Tahir Amin

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Mostly Economics Podcast #44: How Patents Made Our Medicine Cost More with Tahir Amin

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.