I did not say there's no link between research and development and innovation. I said there's no link between increasing the cost of drugs and increasing the amount invested in Canada by the pharmaceutical industry.
Keep in mind that, yes absolutely, in terms of the whole logic of the patent itself, it's just let's reward innovation so the industry has more incentives to invest for more innovation, which makes good sense, absolutely. The thing is, if Canada decides to pay more for their drugs, foreign companies will not start investing in Canada if they get more money from what they sell in Canada. They're going to continue to sell the same thing whether they invest in Canada or not, so their decision to invest or not is not based at all on the price level that Canada will accept to pay for their drugs.
This is an important point for me. What I think is a huge problem right now, when you look at the way the patent system is organized, keep in mind that 80% of the new drugs driving the market do not provide any therapeutic improvement, as compared to the drugs that already exist on the market. The problem with that is if we provide massive incentives or we organize the patent system protecting the new drugs that are not providing these therapeutic improvements, we're sending a message that industry focuses on me-too drugs, because real breakthrough drugs are more risky to invest in, but will give you the same protection, the same amount of money if you invest in me-too drugs instead and do not contribute to therapeutic improvement.
For me there are problems with the incentives in place in the patent system, yes, but when it comes to having a patent system in Canada versus more investment in Canada, just know you can increase the price of the patented drugs as much as you want; there is no causality in terms of increase of investment in Canada.