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White House


TARGETING COSTLY MEDS, BIDEN ADMIN ASSERTS AUTHORITY TO SEIZE CERTAIN DRUG
PATENTS

The decision could give the president another tool to use in his effort to lower
drug prices.



The Biden administration plans to assert its authority to seize certain drug
patents on costly medications. | Andy Buchanan/WPA/Getty Images

By Adam Cancryn

12/06/2023 03:43 PM EST

 * 
 * 

 * * Link Copied
 * * 
   * 
   * 

The Biden administration has determined that it has the authority to seize the
patents of certain high-priced medicines, a move that could open the door to a
more aggressive federal campaign to slash drug prices.

The determination, which was described by three people familiar with the matter,
represents the culmination of a nearly nine-month review of the government’s
so-called march-in rights. Progressives have long insisted that those rights
empower the administration to break the patents of pricey drugs that were
developed with public funds, in an effort to create more competition and lower
prices.



The administration will not endorse the widespread use of march-in rights, and
is not expected to take action against any individual medicines, said the people
familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal
decision making.



Instead, the Commerce Department on Thursday plans to issue a new framework
spelling out factors that federal agencies should weigh in determining whether
to take march-in action against expensive drugs or other individual products
that were created with federal help. The price and availability of that product
to the public are among the factors the department will recommend that agencies
consider.

The department will seek public feedback on the framework, which is likely to
face sharp opposition from pharmaceutical companies that argue it’s illegal for
the government to seize its patents and would disincentivize the development of
new drugs.

The White House declined to comment.

The administration’s decision comes as Biden officials seek fresh opportunities
to lower drug prices and boost competition within the industry, and amid renewed
attention on President Joe Biden’s health agenda.

The White House has scrambled to highlight Biden’s health accomplishments in
recent days, after former President Donald Trump suggested he would repeal and
replace the Affordable Care Act if elected in 2024.

Biden officials now plan to make a fresh push to put health care at the center
of Biden’s reelection platform, rolling out proposals in the coming days that
would expand on Democrats’ passage of laws capping insulin prices for Medicare
recipients and allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of certain drugs. Biden
has also portrayed himself as a chief antagonist of the pharmaceutical industry,
casting his drug price policies as central to his administration’s battle
against “Big Pharma.”

The Commerce Department and Department of Health and Human Services were already
expected to issue their determination on the government’s march-in authority in
the coming weeks, the people familiar with the matter said. But the announcement
was accelerated in the wake of Trump’s comments, and officials are expected to
cite it as evidence that Biden continues to search for new ways to lower prices.

The departments launched their review in March, after the administration
rejected petitions to use march-in authorities to seize the patent for a
prostate cancer drug called Xtandi.

The Xtandi decision prompted criticism from prominent progressives at the time,
including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who later stalled Biden’s nominee for the
National Institutes of Health partly over the administration’s reluctance to use
its march-in rights.


 * Filed under:
 * White House,
 * Commerce Department,
 * Joe Biden,
 * Joe Biden 2024,
 * Bernie Sanders,
 * Patents,
 * Affordable Care Act,
 * Health And Human Services


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