As the overall level of convergence between industries in the
business world keeps increasing, it is only logical for the related
legal aspects to follow suit every step of the way. Nonetheless,
even though this is becoming something of a regular occurrence
nowadays, there are particular legal practice areas that have been
tied to their industry counterparts for quite a long time now, and
perhaps none so much as the relationship between the pharmaceutical
industry and intellectual property (IP) rights.
Often called the "pharmaceutical company's most
valuable resource", IP protection is of vital importance to
the functioning of such companies for a variety of reasons, many of
which – contrary to popular belief – are not deriving
from selfish profit-making intentions. In order to understand these
reasons, one should take into consideration the highly challenging
business model under which pharmaceutical companies operate. More
precisely, if we were to look at the
