Professor Robin Feldman

Professor @UCLaw_SF, Director of @C4iUCLaw, expert on #PatentLaw, #IntellectualProperty, #DrugPricing

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

In one fell swoop, the FTC has drastically changed the landscape of drug pricing.

For decades, PBM middle players have stood at the center of the drug delivery system, structuring secret deals that drive prices higher for everyone.

The FTC-PBM settlement is the culmination of years of work from both Republican and Democratic administrations, as well as persistent pressure from congressional corners.

The deal is not perfect. But it is an enormous step towards rationalizing an enormously inefficient market.

https://t.co/cVi9BmMyKi

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

“Business happens in the shadow of the law. If companies believe they are at serious risk for large jury verdicts, it may deter these pay-for-delay settlements.”

https://t.co/xYS3QSHEDO

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

“Without the additional patents allowed in our patent system, the U.S. would be seeing generic versions [of GLP-1s] within a year of the rest of the world, instead of waiting many more years”

https://t.co/rYeW0UtHyl

@NBCNews @BerkeleyJr

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

"[Legally,] I’d frame it this way: do you want to hold libraries responsible for having books on mass shootings, or for having information books available? If not, then do we think these AI models are more like 'libraries' or more like your Cousin Alfie who drove the getaway car?

[We’ve got to] figure out where they are on that spectrum."

https://t.co/zdyCKew5VN

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

The Mythos wake-up call is a reminder that we must win the AI Race.

Nationalization is never the answer for staying on the cutting edge. Think about whether you would rather walk into the US Post Office or an Apple store. But government-industry cooperation will be key, among other reasons, so that competitors can get into a room together without worrying about antitrust.

[Tenobrus @tenobrus]

maybe this is not yet clear, so let me state it plainly: as of right now Anthropic, and really a small number of individuals at Anthropic, has the capacity to directly attack and cause major damage to the United States Government, China, and generally global superpowers. government agencies like the NSA do not have internal models or defense capabilities that outclass frontier models. if they chose to do so, they could likely exfiltrate top secret information from government systems, gain control over critical infrastructure including military infrastructure, sabotage or modify communications between members of government at the highest level, and potentially carry on activities for some time without detection. the thing about having access to a huge number of zerodays your adversaries don't know about is it gives you a massive asymmetric advantage.

they did not exploit this to gain power or destabilize the world order. they publicly released the information that they had these capabilities and worked to mitigate these flaws. you should be grateful american frontier labs have proven themselves remarkably trustworthy and concerned with the public good. but it's critical you understand we are in a new regime. private entities now have power that directly rivals and impacts the government's monopoly on influence and violence. and anthropic is certainly not the only one, there's little chance OpenAI's internal models are far behind.

this trend will accelerate on virtually every dimension, not slow down. my prediction for how it plays out is the relatively imminent seizure and nationalization of labs by the US government, sometime over the next two years. it's very tough for me to see how they accept the existence of this kind of threat. but this adds a whole new class of governance issues, as then we've handed these extremely wide-reaching capabilities from private entities to public ones.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

Peptides are being touted as the fountain of youth, although the jury is still out on their efficacy.

Bringing them into the light could be a good move. The question is whether the FDA can follow up so that consumers aren’t misled and shady producers don’t pop up on the scene.

https://t.co/b4KFz0EUt7

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

The Bottom Line: Reducing excessive market concentration leads to increased competition and lower costs.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

Some of the biggest pharmacy benefit managers [PBMs] (drug-pricing middlemen) also own the pharmacies that fill prescriptions. A new Tennessee bill, SB 2040, aims to change that. https://t.co/grBGlddFX7

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

Reintroducing competition would be good for everyone in Tennessee. No entity should have the power to hold the state hostage.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

Platforms will be tempted to block agents because agents threaten the power of platforms. But in tech, you move forward or you die. Smart social media and platforms will find ways to embrace and thrive with AI agents.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

Should platforms be allowed to block customers from using AI agents to make purchases? Whatever concerns we may have about agents, this particular flavor of the issue comes down to consumer rights. If your executive assistant can buy something on Amazon, why not a computerized assistant?  

https://t.co/CibxG7nxWq

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

But the question highlights a broader issue: with crucial drugs, if we can’t quickly pivot to a domestic alternative, other nations can threaten to cut us off at the knees.

All of this reinforces the importance of fostering US industry and US competitiveness.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

I was recently asked whether it would be possible for Denmark to use Ozempic in a U.S. trade war. My answer was that no country wants to commit economic suicide by undermining their own major export.

Restricting access to Ozempic could result in patients shifting to Zepbound (made by Eli Lilly—a U.S. company). That reality blunts the threat of a trade war.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

The spotlight should turn to the Health Plans now. The door is open and the question is whether health plans will act in the best interests of their patients or find new ways to distort the system.

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

In one fell swoop, the FTC has drastically changed the landscape of drug pricing.

For decades, PBM middle players have stood at the center of the drug delivery system, structuring secret deals that drive prices higher for everyone.

The FTC-PBM settlement is the culmination of years of work from both Republican and Democratic administrations, as well as persistent pressure from congressional corners.

The deal is not perfect. But it is an enormous step towards rationalizing an enormously inefficient market.

https://t.co/cVi9BmMyKi

[Professor Robin Feldman @ProfRobnFeldman]

1.5 million* AI agents are talking to each other on Moltbook, a social media platform exclusively for them. And startlingly, they behave a lot like us.

We know social media can have negative externalities for humans—so will it drive AI agents crazy too?
https://t.co/jec4NuVqTn

(*Source for 1.5 million: https://t.co/1YYeKKJVRz - The Economist)