Blockbuster Drugs, Women Inventors and the Manufactured Patient: A Tale of Patents, Extraction and Exploitation

Type 2 diabetes and weight-loss drugs based on “GLP-1As” are increasingly present in Western societies. The "promise" of the blockbuster drugs as a quick and easy "fix" has captured governments, users and the news media. At the same time, science media has been captivated by the story of Svetlana Mojsov, who was left off of several relevant foundational patents. This article examines Mojsov’s experience and the market for GLP-1As to highlight how women being missing from patents is problematic, but focussing on more women on patents obscures the extractive and exploitative nature of the patent system. That same exploitative nature supports building market power behind patents, as well as other exclusivities, allowing key players to create and dominate markets, and influence demand through narrative curation (sometimes illicitly), in ways that are highly gendered, racialised and classed.