This will gut a good chunk of the innovation in the American economy in all sectors. If people do not have confidence that their patents will be protected, they will decline to make nig investments in creating new things. The profits reaped by people who invent new important things is the price of getting new important things.
The Biden administration on Thursday opened the door to seizing the patents of certain costly medications from drugmakers in a new push to slash high drug prices and promote more pharmaceutical competition.
The administration unveiled a framework outlining the factors federal agencies should consider in deciding whether to use a controversial policy, known as march-in rights, to take patents for drugs developed with taxpayer funds and share them with other pharmaceutical companies if the public cannot “reasonably” access the medications. Doing so could lead to the development of lower-priced generic alternatives, which could cut into key drug companies’ profits and reduce costs for patients.
For the first time, officials can now factor in a medication’s price in deciding to break a patent.
I wouldn’t be in favor of the gov’t seizing patents. This is something that would have to be an emergency framework, IMO. Not just to lower prices. They can already negotiate via Medicare now.
But, I do think that there could be a case to reduce the length of drug patents from 20 years down to 5 to 10. Or stipulations regarding drug patents where public funded tax payer money is used for the creation, research, or development (not including testing) of the drugs. A large majority of funding is private R&D, so I don’t think that this would be a significant amount.
Why do drug patents developed with tax payer funding NOT come with limitations now?
Merlin. I don’t know, maybe they are, and we just are unaware. But I do know that it isn’t many. So maybe that is why?
…patents for drugs developed with taxpayer funds and share them with other pharmaceutical companies if the public cannot “reasonably” access the medications…
If that statement is true, what’s your beef, O? They got MY MONEY to develop the drug, not shareholder capital.