Intellectual Property and Health Technologies Balancing Innovation and the Public's Health Joanna T. Brougher, Esq., MPH At first glance, ownership of intellectual property seems straightforward: the control over an invention or idea. But with the recent explosion of new scientific discoveries poised to transform public health and healthcare systems, costly and lengthy patent disputes threaten both to undermine the attempts to develop new medical technologies and to keep potentially life-saving treatments from patients who need them. Intellectual Property and Health Technologies grounds readers in patent law and explores how scientific research and enterprise are evolving in response. Geared specifically to the medical disciplines, it differentiates among forms of legal protection for inventors such as copyrights and patents, explains their limits, and argues for balance between competing forces of exclusivity and availability. Chapters delve into the major legal controversies concerning medical and biotechnologies in terms of pricing, markets, and especially the tension between innovation and access, including: The patent-eligibility of genes The patent-eligibility of medical process patents The rights and roles of universities and inventors The balancing of access, innovation, and profit in drug development The tension between biologics, small-molecule drugs, and their generic counterparts International patent law and access to medicine in the developing world As these issues continue to shape and define the debate, Intellectual Property and Health Technologies enables professionals and graduate students in public health, health policy, healthcare administration, and medicine to understand patent law and how it affects the development of medical technology and the delivery of medicine.

The Parting of Shadows is now split into three parts - Part one: Livid's past is a complete mystery. She was found at night in the warm sands of the great desert. Only a newborn, she was thought to be dreadfully ill because of her total lack of color. Her skin was as pale as snow, and even her blood was dark-gray in color. She now lives the solitary life of a shepherdess on the edge of the very desert where she was found some nineteen years earlier. In this environment, Livid has learned to take care of herself, and she fears nothing . . . Nothing, that is, except water! Living in the driest place on the world of Riven, she knows very little of this strange fluid, but seas of water haunt her dreams, and thus she fears it with debilitating terror. Meanwhile, far to the west, a bard named Curesoon has been seeking to find his family. Thus engaged, he steps into the shadows of the black bog Miremurk, and unknowingly embarks upon an adventure that will draw in many, including even the gray-maiden named Livid.