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The Biden administration in December announced it was setting a
new policy that would allow it to seize patents for technologies
developed with government funding if it believed their prices
were too high.
The government, which gave the public until February to comment
on the proposal, is expected to make a decision on whether to
finalize the change to so-called march-in rights within days,
according to a source close to the matter.
March-in rights, which have never been used before, allow the
government to grant additional licenses to third parties for
products developed using federal funds if the original patent
holder does not make them available to the public on reasonable
terms.
Warren and U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett said an analysis of
the public comments submitted for the proposal showed 85% were
in favor.
"As you work to finalize the guidance, we urge you to consider
the overwhelming support for the framework, including the
thousands of comments calling for the use of march-in authority
to lower prescription drug prices," they wrote.
Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce earlier this month criticizing its efforts
to derail the policy.
The chamber in March said it had launched a seven-figure
initiative to oppose the proposal and other policies it deemed
to be a threat to U.S. innovation.
The leading pharmaceutical industry lobby group PhRMA also took
issue with the policy in its publicly-submitted comment, saying
making price a factor added significant risk and uncertainty to
the already risky endeavor of developing drugs.
The proposed policy applies to all technologies at any stage of
development, according to the draft. Those who have called to
use march-in rights in the past, however, have typically done so
for drugs that received early-stage government funding.
Under the new policy, the government will consider factors
including whether only a narrow set of patients can afford the
drug, and whether drugmakers are exploiting a health or safety
issue by hiking prices.
(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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