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Adverse effects of acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry

Nature Medicine volume 28, pages 1342–1344 (2022)Cite this article

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Publicly funded research leads to the development of many new drugs, but the profits are largely reaped by big pharmaceutical companies through exclusive licensing deals, mergers and acquisitions, which can reduce competition and patients’ access to medicines.

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Fig. 1: Ownership changes for approved CAR-T therapies.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland

    Melissa Newham

  2. Institute of Law, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Kerstin N. Vokinger

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  1. Melissa Newham
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  2. Kerstin N. Vokinger
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Both authors conceptualized the comment. M.N. wrote the first draft. K.N.V. revised and finalized the draft.

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Correspondence to Melissa Newham or Kerstin N. Vokinger.

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Newham, M., Vokinger, K.N. Adverse effects of acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry. Nat Med 28, 1342–1344 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01784-5

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