W&L’s Pooja Thakur-Wernz Examines Effects of India’s Enhanced IP Rights on Biopharma Innovation

Pooja Thakur-Wernz, assistant professor of business administration at Washington and Lee University, recently co-authored a scholarly article titled “Impact of Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Regime on Innovation: Evidence From De Alio Versus De Novo Indian Bio-Pharmaceutical Firms,” published in the Journal of Business Research.

Her co-author is Christian Wernz, a senior data scientist affiliated with the Department of Data Science at the University of Virginia Health System.

The research was inspired by India’s significant policy shift in the 1990s, when the country transitioned from a relatively weak intellectual property rights (IPR) regime to a more robust framework in compliance with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. This policy change created a natural experiment setting to analyze how firms formed under the older IPR regime (de alio firms) differ in innovation outcomes compared to those established under the newer, stronger regime (de novo firms).

Professor Thakur-Wernz explained, “India underwent a natural experiment in the 1990s, as the country moved from a weak intellectual property rights (IPR) regime to a stronger one under the TRIPS agreement. [In this article,] I look at how firms formed under the older IPR regime differ from firms created under the new regime in terms of their innovation performance.”

At Washington and Lee University, Thakur-Wernz’s research primarily investigates how strategic decisions by firms affect their international expansion and innovation activities. She focuses on the global biopharmaceutical industry, with a particular emphasis on India, her home country, which is among the fastest-growing emerging economies worldwide.

Her work has been featured in numerous respected journals specializing in strategic management and international business, underscoring her expertise in the intersection of innovation, strategy, and emerging markets.

The article is accessible for reading and download on ScienceDirect, providing valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and industry stakeholders interested in the effects of intellectual property regimes on innovation dynamics within emerging economies.

Washington and Lee University encourages nominations for faculty profiles to highlight impactful scholarship across disciplines.