Brain research investment…
Public money goes in at the same time when blockbuster patent goes public
In EU Human Brain Project research is valued at 1,190 B EUR (1) and US is spending 4,5 B US$ on Brain project (2). At the first sight it looks as a super idea to find out how our brains work (actually they work simply — fire electricity under the impact of the environment and store information for future use).
At the same time, depression is one of the top 3 causes of adolescent deaths cause, accordinng to WHO (3) and depression is even analysed in academic papers as a great market opportunity. Globally, fewer than half of depression sufferers receive treatment for their illness, and in some countries this figure falls to fewer than 1 in 10. The high incidence rate, combined with limited market penetration, makes depression a high potential market for pharmaceuticals. (4)
And if teens are customers, think about life time customer value marketing concepts.
According to (5) in US only in 2012 top 10 pills for depression is valued at almost 9 B US$. BUT the top seller is loosing its patent rights in 2013 (6).
It will be interesting to trace where this money in brain research finish. If factors of production are land, labor and capital, we investing as a society quite a lot of capital into system to research brain. And what is global system impact of such a investment ? Should we have public domain medicine soon for ?
As a poem about Mutation of Capital says:
It’s not about knowledge you could buy,
It’s about how it could be applied.
References
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Brain_Project
(2) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-05/brain-map-project-may-cost-u-s-4-5-billion-panel-says.html
(3) http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/focus-adolescent-health/en/
(4)d’Souza, P., & Jago, C. (2014). Spotlight on depression: a Pharma Matters report. Drugs of today (Barcelona, Spain: 1998), 50(3), 251-267.
(5) http://www.statista.com/statistics/242644/revenues-of-top-depression-drugs-in-the-us-2011-2012/
