16 May 2016 - The Viewpoint discusses the effects of “patent trolls” on US generic drug prices and availability.

Patent reform legislation was recently introduced in Congress—the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015 (PATENT Act) in the Senate and Innovation Act in the House—to curb the effects of non-practicing entities or, as they are more colorfully known, “patent trolls.”

Non-practicing entities are organizations that acquire and hold patents, often not developing technology related to their patents, and use their patent rights to sue companies that are developing and selling allegedly infringing products.

Patent trolls, though a thorn to large technology companies, are less prevalent in the health care field. However, the legislation has nonetheless been strongly contested by the biopharmaceutical industry because current efforts to restrict patent trolls represent the latest in a series of initiatives to bring restraint to the patent system—and specifically have an impact on poorly innovative drug patents that manufacturers traditionally rely on to maintain profits by delaying timely generic drug competition.

For more details, go to: http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=2521829