Kevin Outterson, an associate law professor at Boston University, is an expert on patent law and intellectual property as it applies to the pharmaceutical industry. He works to balance the incentives behind innovation with making sure low-income people have access to life-saving therapies.
MassDevice spoke with Outterson about the background behind states’ efforts to rein in industry, specifically “Big Pharma,” and how medical device makers came to be folded into the strict Massachusetts regulations governing industry payments to physicians.
MassDevice: Can you give us a quick history of the roots of the gift ban in efforts to regulate the pharmaceutical industry?