We are conditioned to think that research into new medicines will come to a halt unless pharmaceutical companies continue to be allowed exclusive rights to sell the drugs they develop. But there is another way to stimulate research that would greatly enhance access to drugs, encourage companies to develop medicines that are more medically useful – and save money too. Rather than rewarding success with legal monopolies, governments could use large cash prizes.
There has recently been a surge of prizes for particular research challenges, ranging from space travel and clean energy to video rental searches and yields from silver mining.…
