Money exclusions

The patent system is an essential foundation of the biotechnology industry Through patent protection, those spending extraordinary amounts of money on research and development are able to recoup costs and earn appropriate returns for shareholders by benefiting from limited periods of exclusivity over their discoveries. The importance of this protection becomes obvious as one considers that the average research and development costs for a single new drug has traditionally been estimated at 500 million (Robbins-Roth,... 

The FDA has proved to be responsive to criticism, probably more so than many other federal agencies. To give one example, in 1989 it took roughly 33 months for a market approval letter to be issued from the date of request 10 years later this dropped to 13 months. Issues still remain, however. No new drug excipients had been approved in over 20 years because no manufacturer was willing to spend the money on the extensive toxicity testing required without commercial exclusivity or protection. 

Although the professor typically creates the invention and writes the patent, Caltech owns it. However, if the professor wants to practice this technology exclusively commercially for a period of time, he or she can take out an option on the technology for a relatively nominal sum. The professor must commit to using the patented technology and make it successful within a 12-month period. If this is not done within 12 months, the option reverts back to the university and exclusivity is lost. If, however, the option is exercised, a company is formed, and Series A money is raised, Caltech will take a small percentage share of that company in return for granting an exclusive license. 

For income-tax calculations, interest on owned money cannot be charged as a cost. In design calculations, however, interest can be included as a cost unless there is assurance that the total capital investment will be supplied from the company s funds and the company policies permit exclusion of interest as a cost... 

Occasionally, discoveries cannot be patented. For example, if you discover something novel, such as lithium ameliorating bipolar disorder, there is a problem. Lithium is a chemical element, not a new chemical compound that can be patented per se. Since the industry could not make much money making lithium tablets, there was less incentive to establish a use patent. Nowadays, for some cases such as this, there is an orphan drug statute in the United States, which, since 1983, gives a company a seven-year exclusivity and enables it to develop a drug treatment and still help patients. But this is a very slow and very difficult process. It is much better to patent, and let the patent drop should no one develop it into a coiranercial product, than not to patent at all. 

In relation to [the functioning capitalistl interest appears therefore as the mere fruit of owning capital, of capital as such abstracted from the reproduction pro cess 0/ capital, inasmuch as it does not "work", does not function while profit of enterprise appears to him as the exclusive fruit of the functions which he performs with the capital, as the fruit of the movement and performance of capital, of a performance which appears to him as his own activity, as opposed to the inactivity, the non-participation of the money capitalist in the pi uction process. ... 

The second, more sophisticated version of mercantilism derives profit from circulation, not from the mere possession of money. "The so-called monetary system is merely an expression of the irrational form M-C-M, a movement which takes place exclusively in circulation." In Capital I Marx explains that this version no less than the first rests on the fallacy of composition, which in this case is the erroneous inference from the fact that any commodity-owner can enrich himself, at the expense of others, by selling the product over the value, to the conclusion that all can do so simultaneously. "The capitalist class as whole, in any country, cannot overreach themselves." And Marx adds in a footnote "Deslutt de Tracy. .. held the opposite view. He says, industrial capitalists make profits because they all sell for more than it has cost to produce. And to whom do they sell In the first instance to one another. " ... 

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