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WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress might try to use a technical maneuver to block the Biden administration from using so-called march-in rights to seize pharmaceutical patents and lower drug prices.
The Biden White House wants to ignore certain patents for inventions that were developed with government funding, at least in extenuating circumstances. Taxpayers have helped fund the research of a substantial number of drugs sold in the United States though the National Institutes of Health, so the proposal would let the government bring in generic drugmakers to make medicines even before their patents expire.
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Until the Biden administration, the government refused to consider that an invention’s price could justify the “march in” maneuver. But the White House in December issued a draft framework for the NIH to more broadly use the power, including in cases where price is a concern.
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