The high cost of prescription drugs is a concern for many. While most may agree that lowering these prices is a worthy goal, just how to accomplish this is much less agreed upon. And whether the implementation of different strategies would actually result in lower prices or whether they would unleash unintended consequences is hard to predict.
The White House last week announced a plan to lower health care and prescription drug costs. Part of this plan includes expanding the use of "march-in" rights of taxpayer-funded inventions to allow the federal government to license patent rights covering a drug to manufacturers other than the patent owner. Under the proposal, for the first time, march-in rights could be used if the government determines the price of the drug is too high and thus not reasonably available to the public.
In theory, multiple manufacturers will create competition, which will lead to lower drug prices. Some, however, argue that not allowing pharmaceutical companies to maximize the value of their investment in new drugs will hinder innovation. There will now be a 60-day period to elicit public comments.
Today, the Department of Commerce (DOC) and HHS released a proposed framework for agencies on the exercise of march-in rights that specifies for the first time that price can be a factor in determining that a drug or other taxpayer-funded invention is not accessible to the public.
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