Loophole in Patent Law Brings ‘Miracle Drug’ to Patients Who Can’t Afford It; The New York Times, June 22, 2026

Stephanie Nolen, The New York Times; Loophole in Patent Law Brings ‘Miracle Drug’ to Patients Who Can’t Afford It

A generic version of a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug, manufactured in Bangladesh for a fraction of the American price, may give some families around the world an unlikely lifeline. 

"Now a Bangladeshi company has reverse engineered Trikafta and is using a loophole in global patent law to sell its version, called Triko, for a fraction of Vertex’s price.

Last week, the Lotterings joined a small group of other cystic fibrosis patients and their families who traveled to Dhaka to buy the first boxes of Triko that rolled off the production line of Beximco Pharmaceuticals.

Heather Nichols, a spokeswoman for Vertex, said that Trikafta is available in 75 countries — through sales or donations — and that the company provides it free in 15 countries; more than 7,000 people have received it at no charge.

But there are thousands more patients not covered by those programs, who have tried a variety of strategies to get the drug, including taking Vertex to court and petitioning their governments to allow a generic version of the drug to be imported or made locally, under a process known as compulsory licensing."

Does parody trump copyright?; Economist, 12/4/13

Economist; Does parody trump copyright? : "In most countries anyone wanting to use copyrighted material must obtain permission from the copyright holder (unless the holder has already issued a pre-emptive licence, such as one from the Creative Commons organisation). Two exceptions exist in American law. The first is compulsory licensing, which requires any song released to the public in any medium (from wax cylinder to digital download) to be available for any other party to re-record in a substantively similar form. The cover artist pays a fee to the composer for each copy sold or given away. The second exception is fair use, designed to allow parody, commentary and analysis that advance academic, political or social purposes. A four-part test determines whether a derivative work falls under fair-use protection. But the test is ambiguous and relies on litigation, which is costly. Most artists therefore avoid relying on fair-use provisions, and instead seek permission (as "Weird" Al Yankovic does with his parody songs) or avoid using copyrighted material that cannot be licensed... After receiving a complaint from the Beastie Boys' representatives, GoldieBlox filed a lawsuit commonly used in fair-use proceedings asking for a declarative judgment against the Beastie Boys, to affirm the advertisement's status as a parody... After the Beastie Boys published an open letter expressing their dismay at being sued, the toymaker pulled its ad and uploaded a new version with different music. It says it will withdraw its suit once the band agrees not to pursue its copyright-infringement action. Lawyers remain at odds over whether the advertisement represented a parody or simply a rip-off."