Khazabi,
Massoud & Quyen, Nguyen. (2017). The Search for New Drugs: A Theory
of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Journal of Economic Studies.
44. 10.1108/JES-01-2016-0002.
Abstract:
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to use a dynamic model of optimal patent
design and, in the presence of information externalities, to study the
evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical
industry.
Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical analysis.
Findings
– Pharmaceutical firms with an active drug discovery program behave
strategically in their R&D and in the product markets. It is shown
that a firm holding an earlier-expiring patent only chooses to proceed
with R&D activates when the patent it holds expires if the expected
discounted payoff net of R&D costs yielded by this action is
positive. The expected discounted payoff net of R&D costs obtained
by this firm is then decreasing in R&D costs, increasing in the
cumulative quality discovered in the past R&D activates, and
decreasing in the number of past R&D activities, etc.
Originality/value
– The preceding literature on the topic works with only one brand, the
brand with the highest quality. As well, the demand is assumed to be
completely inelastic. In the conventional models of patent design, the
role of competitive fringe firms is discussed implicitly. The model
presented in this research is a rigorous continuous in-time dynamic
model. It considers several differentiated products. Furthermore, the
demand for a brand is taken to be a function of income, its price, and
the prices of other brands. The interaction of the fringe firm with
other patent-holding firms is also explicitly considered under this
framework.
Keywords R&D, Patent, Pharmaceutical industry, Spillovers
Paper type Research paper
Cite
this publication: Khazabi, Massoud & Quyen, Nguyen. (2017). The
Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical
Industry. Journal of Economic Studies. 44. 10.1108/JES-01-2016-0002.
Full text may be found in the
Journal of Economic Studies.