Pharmaceutical Patents: Incentives for Research and Development or Marketing?

C-Tier
Journal: Southern Economic Journal
Year: 2009
Volume: 76
Issue: 2
Pages: 351-374

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We analyze how a patent‐holding pharmaceutical firm may strategically use advertising of existing drugs to affect research and development (R&D) investments in new (differentiated) drugs, and thereby affect the probability distribution of future market structures in the industry. Within a fairly general model framework, we derive exact conditions for advertising and R&D being substitute strategies for the incumbent firm and show that it may overinvest in advertising to reduce the incentive for an entrant to invest in R&D, thereby reducing the probability of a new product on the market. In a more specific setting of informative advertising, we show that such overinvestment incentives are always present and that more generous patent protection implies that a larger share of the patent rent is spent on marketing, relative to R&D.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:soecon:v:76:y:2009:i:2:p:351-374
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24