Pharma patents rulings put R&D jobs at risk

The head of U.S. drug giant Eli Lilly and Co. warns that recent Canadian court rulings favouring generic drug producers are driving his company, and the research and development jobs it provides, right out of the country. […] Some patent law experts and the generics industry say Lilly is exaggerating the promise-doctrine issue. McGill University law professor Richard Gold says that taken as a whole, Canada's patent decisions are not out of line with those in other countries, although patent regimes vary. In the U.S., he said, patents can be thrown out on other grounds that would survive a challenge in Canada.