"Dean Michael Berris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On 12/22/06, manny <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> On Tue, 12 Dec 2006, Dean Michael Berris wrote: >> >> > Transparency can only be defined between two parties. It doesn't >> > require that something be available to the public for it to be >> > transparent >> >> Unless the transactions involve PUBLIC MONEY. You forgot that. >> > > Not really... The government can buy generic drugs and not get the > formula in the process: but the price and the terms are public > information.
Actually, they can and usually do. Once a drug company patents their formula (and that's the only way to get a generic label), then it's in the public space -- with the caveat that the company patenting it will have limited exclusive rights to the drug. In fact, to quote Wikipedia on Generic Drugs: When can a generic drug be produced? Generic drugs can be legally produced for drugs where: 1) the patent has expired, 2) the generic company certifies the brand company's patents are either invalid, unenforceable or will not be infringed, 3) for drugs which have never held patents, or 4) in countries where a patent(s) is/are not in force. The expiration of a patent removes the monopoly of the patent holder on drug sales licensing. It is also becoming popular for the large pharmaceutical companies to preempt the expiry of their patent by producing their own generic product, or license their own product to be branded by generic companies. Thus, in some cases, the "generic" product is actually the brand product but inside a different box. So, in fact, the formula *has* to be out there for generic drugs to be produced. Or, the owner of the drug has to license its use -- but that still means that the formula is out there. Or, in fact, getting a generic drug is *not* the same as getting the original product. In fact, for a drug to be considered generic, it has to be proven to be bioequivalent -- it has to exhibit more or less the same capabilities and effects of the pioneer drug. In the same way, the FOSS bill likens FOSS to generics -- FOSS software has to exhibit the same capabilities and effects as a proprietary product before it can be considered for use in replacement for the proprietary product. Read up on generics, my friend. :) -- JM Ibanez Senior Software Engineer Orange & Bronze Software Labs, Ltd. Co. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://software.orangeandbronze.com/ _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
