Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Risk Analysis: Ends and Means vs The Flu

There are (apparently) several high-power drugs available to treat the latest strain. They are all under patent, which means that their production is necessarily limited by the manufacturing capacity of the patent-holders.
Some questions:
■ Should the government order the patents "broken," and the formulae distributed (for lack of a better word) to various other manufacturers (the patent-holders' competitors) in order to increase the speed of production?
■ What, if any, message would that action send to the owners of other IP (Intellectual Property)?
■ Is potentially saving thousands of lives worth that risk?
[Hat Tip: Hugh Hewitt]
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