Campaigners ask US govt to force down prices for common drugs
Entities backing the Make Meds Affordable campaign have asked US health authorities President Biden to end “patent monopolies” on six common medicines to bring down prices.
The petition, first found by Bloomberg was submitted to the US Department of Health and Human Services today, March 24.
It asks Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra to exercise government powers to overrule patent exclusivity to provide generic competition for certain COVID-19 treatments, HIV prevention drugs, hepatitis C drugs, and inhalers.
“By exercising your executive authority, you can help lower drug prices, improve the lives of millions of Americans, and move towards eliminating the epidemics of our time,” the petition claims.
The campaigners said that “patents and other exclusivities” give drug companies the power to set prohibitively high prices for these treatments.
Signees for the petition include People’s Action, CPD Action, Indivisible and Public Citizen.
Avenues for change
The petition says that the government could utilise “government patent use” authority to authorise generic competition for patented treatments in exchange for “reasonable compensation”.
The authority—titled 28 USC §1498—allows the US government to utilise the patent without fear of the patent holder filing an injunction or bring a “takings” claim under the fifth amendment of the US constitution.
According to the petition, the government “used the law repeatedly” in the 1960s to buy low-cost generic versions of patented drugs and has exercised this authority more recently to develop other patented technologies like night-vision goggles and electronic passports.
Another avenue that the petition claims that the government could use would be “march-in” rights outlined in 35 USC §§ 203, §202(c)(4).
This power allows the state to grant additional licences on inventions developed with taxpayer funding.
“The Biden administration can use march-in rights and royalty-free rights to introduce additional generic producers for certain publicly-funded medicines,” the petition said.
‘Cost concerns’
The campaigners claim that introducing “six or more” producers to the market can lead to price reductions of 95%, citing data from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The petition concludes: “Last year, you noted that ‘life-saving prescription medication should not cost anyone their life savings. Yet too often, many low-income families cannot take their prescription medications because of cost concerns.’
“In this petition, we have described a range of drugs that people 77 struggle to afford, and outlined steps that you can take, starting tomorrow, to help eliminate monopolies and lower prices.”
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