In the past decade, personalized medicine has emerged as one of
the most promising areas of medical research. It holds great
potential for improving patient outcomes and reducing human
suffering as well as driving down health care costs.
But innovation needs to be nurtured. In the U.S., the primary
mechanism to incentivize innovation is the patent process. The
Constitution states that Congress shall have the power to
"promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing
for limited times to authors and investors the exclusive right to
their respective writings and discoveries."
However, concerns have surfaced that the system is out of
balance and impeding rather than advancing technological progress.
Where there is no protection of rights, there is very little
incentive to innovate, often described as the tragedy of the
commons. But it is also true that innovation suffers where there
are numerous rights holders – a phenomenon coined by
Michael Heller as the
