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ARTICLE · 04 APRIL 2025

Patents And Drug Pricing

WilmerHale
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The price of branded drugs in the United States has been and continues to be a hot topic. While various causes have been alleged, recent attention has focused heavily on the U.S. patent system.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Heather M. Petruzzi
Heather M. Petruzzi
Jerry A. Salvatore
Jerry A. Salvatore
Patrick Nyman, PhD
Patrick Nyman, PhD
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Why Weakening Patent Protection Is Not in the Public's Best Interest

The price of branded drugs in the United States has been and continues to be a hot topic. While various causes have been alleged, recent attention has focused heavily on the U.S. patent system. Lawmakers, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and even the former president have called for or sought to push through substantial changes to the patent system that weaken pharmaceutical patents. Blaming the patent system, however, overstates the impact patents have on drug prices. The correlation between the number of pharmaceutical patents associated with a product and competition is far from clear (as even the USPTO has found1 ), and by many metrics the patent system is working as intended. Yet many proposed "solutions" have treated patents as an easy fix without considering downstream ramifications.

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