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Senate unanimously endorses legislation targeting pharma 'patent thickets'

The Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, aiming to curb aggressive patenting practices in the pharmaceutical industry to promote competition and lower drug prices. Click here for article.

  • Bill Objective: The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act seeks to limit the number of patents drugmakers can assert in litigation on individual biological products, targeting the practice of "patent thicketing."

  • Patent Thicketing: This tactic involves stacking secondary patents to create a complex intellectual property web, making it difficult for generic or biosimilar developers to enter the market.

  • Impact Example: AbbVie used a web of 250 patents to keep its immunology drug Humira free from U.S. competition for two decades.

  • Legislative Support: The bill's sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, urges the House to pass the legislation, highlighting its potential to promote competition and lower drug prices without hindering innovation.

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