Tabarrok has some doubts about politicization of the awards but comes down in favor. More details on the bill are here
This blog has posted about prizes before. They still seem like a good idea for drugs because of the wide public benefits.
Against Monopoly
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Monopoly corrupts. Absolute monopoly corrupts absolutely.
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Bill to foster drug development with prizes
Alex Tabarrok calls our attention to prizes as a means to foster innovation in drugs here. In this case, Bernie Sanders has introduced the Medical Innovation Prize Fund Act of 2007 which provides $80 billion a year to pharmaceutical companies to place their patents in the public domain, thus allowing anybody to make the drug. Drugs developed without patents would also be eligible for prize money.
[Posted at 10/25/2007 07:43 PM by John Bennett on Pharmaceutical Patents 
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