Professor C. Scott Hemphill Testifies On the Role of Incentives in Health Care
Hemphill, an Expert in Antitrust, Intellectual Property, and the Regulation of Industry, Appears at Hearing of Energy and Commerce Committee
New York, June 11, 2014—Columbia Law School Professor C. Scott Hemphill, who teaches about the law and economics of innovation and competition, testified today in Washington, D.C. at a subcommittee hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee.
At the hearing, “21st Century Cures: Examining the Role of Incentives in Advancing Treatments and Cures for Patients,” Hemphill spoke about the role of patent protection and regulation in pharmaceutical innovation. He called for a careful study of the so-called "lost innovation problem"—the idea that drug makers are not developing new medicines because of insufficient incentives—so that any solution to the problem can be narrowly targeted.
"Claims that larger drug maker rewards would increase innovation are easy to make, but hard to pin down," he testified.