Controlling Drug Prices: What is the Role of Government, Patents & Exclusivity? *

Controlling Drug Prices: What is the Role of Government, Patents & Exclusivity? *

View Session Speakers

It is no secret that the cost of prescription drugs is more than anyone wants to pay. But is the price of newly developed, FDA-approved drugs the result of patents, or a thicket of patents? While patents are often to blame for the cost of prescription drugs, the truth is far more complicated. Indeed, the FDA approval process can literally last a decade (or more) and add hundreds of millions if not multiple billions of dollars to the costs incurred by innovator pharmaceutical companies. Notwithstanding, patents remain an easy target for those concerned with the escalating cost of medicines.

Imposing government price controls on critical medical treatments will have devastating consequences for patients who are counting on new life-saving drugs. Eli Lilly has already dropped a blood cancer drug from its research and development pipeline because they “couldn’t make the math work.” Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said, “In light of the Inflation Reduction Act, this program no longer met the threshold for continued investment.”  Alnylam ceased their research and development into a new treatment for a rare eye disease due to the need “to evaluate the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act.” Similarly, Novartis warned that the IRA could discourage investment in its most promising areas of research and development: RNA and radioligands.

This panel will discuss the consequences of government price controls, specifically as set forth in the Inflation Reduction Act but also more generally in the omnipresent threat of march-in rights under Bayh-Dole and calls to misuse 28 U.S.C. 1498(a) to control drug prices. The panel will also discuss the role of public and private financing for scientific research and R&D, what role (if any) the government should play with respect to price fixing, the role patents and exclusivity play in drug prices, and what is really to blame for exorbitant drug prices.

Materials

U.S. Taxpayers Should Not Be Paying for Private Patent Infringement (By Judge Braden)

Why is Senator Sanders Holding Medical Innovation Hostage (by Brad Watts)

Why We’re Suing HHS and CMS to Challenge Illegal Price Controls (by Brad Watts)

Government Price Controls Limit Access to Medicine and Stifle American Innovation (by Brad Watts)

Congress: Don’t Stop Insulin Innovation? (by Brad Watts)