Cornyn, Running for Re-Election, Gets in Pharma’s Crosshairs

A prominent Republican senator has broken with his party to push for aggressive drug patent reforms as he faces constituents during his re-election campaign.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has been active in trying to reform the patent system since 2007, but observers have been surprised at how bold his legislation (S. 1416), cosponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), is.

The legislation would give the Federal Trade Commission more ability to go after pharmaceutical companies that file many patents on a drug or shift consumers onto slightly different, separately patented brand-name drugs when older patents run out, keeping prices ...