“The manufacturers of aspirin are about to launch an extensive advertising campaign to clinch the market as far as possible before the expiration of their patent rights next year.... The purpose of the campaign is to identify the product with the trademark of the Bayer Company and to this extent hamper competition after the expiration of the patent.”
The business of the Bayer Company, the article goes on to say, has been hurt by the sale of worthless or even harmful imitations put on the market by irresponsible and unauthorized persons when the present war stopped importations from Germany.
“The public knew aspirin, but did not know who made it [italics ours].... When the Bayer Company, Inc., took over the manufacture of aspirin in this country, the first steps were taken to identify the product with the firm who made it.... Of course, there are good reasons why the makers were loth to advertise the product or to exploit their trademark. As every one knows, the advertising of a medical proposition is an extremely ticklish subject.... It is easy to make a misstep. Aspirin is one of those proprietary drugs that are extensively prescribed by physicians. If anything were done that might possibly associate this drug with the patent medicines that are in disfavor with the profession, the valuable influence and cooperation of thousands of doctors might be lost. It is believed that this knotty phase of the question is being answered in the present advertising.... Since nothing is mentioned about ‘medicine,’ ‘cures’ or ‘ailments,’ it is anticipated that there will be but little objection to the copy. All that the advertising attempts to do is to link up the name ‘Bayer’ with aspirin.... The nearest the copy gets to medical talk is in this sentence in very small type at the bottom of the advertisement, ‘The trademark “Aspirin” (Reg. U. S. Patent Office) is a guarantee that the monoacetic acid ester of salicylic acid in these tablets is of the reliable Bayer manufacture.’ ”
From this it appears that, not content with seventeen years of monopoly, the aspirin people are attempting to retain a hold on the market in perpetuo by associating the name of the company with the trade name “aspirin.” There can be no better time than the present, therefore, for the medical profession to substitute, for the nondescriptive name “aspirin,” the descriptive and correct name acetylsalicylic acid.—(Editorial from The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 12, 1916.)
Patenting Therapeutic Agents
In the past, therapeutic agents and apparatus have been controlled by patents and trademarks for profit. If there have been exceptions, they have been rare. The Principles of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association contain this statement: “It is unprofessional to receive remuneration from patents for surgical instruments or medicines.” This does not mean that the patenting is wrong in itself; there are occasions when it is wise, if not necessary, to obtain a patent in the interest of the public, and, in the case of surgical instruments and medicines, of the medical profession. In certain instances it is absolutely necessary that the article produced shall maintain a definite standard of quality and purity—and, it may be added, shall be sold at a reasonable price. Enterprising pharmaceutical manufacturers have usually been ready to appropriate the results of scientific research by investigators or therapeutic measures suggested by practicing physicians. Not infrequently, in such instances, the desire for financial gain has caused the marketing of such products with extravagant, if not false, claims as to their value. Yet the patent laws may be used so as to protect and benefit the public and the medical profession. In research laboratories, work is being carried on resulting in the production of new therapeutic agents. It is important that these agents shall be so controlled that they may be made available without subordination to commercial interests. It has become practically necessary, therefore, for research workers to protect their products in the interest of the public welfare and scientific medicine. It has not been an easy matter to decide how best to bring about the desired results. This question has been before the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association; and, in 1914, the House of Delegates passed a resolution authorizing the board to accept at its discretion patents for medical and surgical instruments and appliances; as trustees, for the benefit of the profession and the public, provided that neither the Association nor the patentee should receive remuneration from these patents. The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research has solved the problem in a similar manner. In connection with the report of the discovery of several new arsenic compounds, Jacobs and Heidelberger,[302] working in the Rockefeller Institute, say:
It may be appropriate to mention here that this substance and related compounds, described in the present and following papers of the series, are covered by U. S. Patents Nos. 1280119-27. Patents have also been applied for in foreign countries. All discoveries made at the Rockefeller Institute are made freely available to the public, in accordance with the philanthropic purposes of the institution. In order to insure purity of product and protection against exploitation, it has been deemed necessary in certain instances to protect the discoveries by patents. It is the purpose of the institute to permit any drugs which may prove of practical therapeutic value to be manufactured under license by suitable chemical firms and under conditions of production which will insure the biological qualities of the drugs and their marketing at reasonable prices. Other than through the issuance of license, the Rockefeller Institute does not participate in any way in the commercial preparation or sale of the manufactured chemicals; and it receives no royalties or other pecuniary benefits from the licenses it issues.
Here we have medicine at its best. The altruism of pure science operating for the benefit of the general public: scientific therapeutics freed from commercial domination.—(Editorial from The Journal A. M. A., Oct. 18, 1919.)