Divisive Drug Patent Proposal From Trump Era Is on Biden Agenda

The Biden administration is forging ahead with a divisive, Trump-era regulatory proposal that would limit the government’s ability to control prices on drugs developed from federally funded research.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology set an October deadline to update the Bayh-Dole Act, the 1980 law that enables universities to retain patent rights on inventions discovered from government-funded research. The proposal would clarify the law—which allows the government to step in and license federally funded inventions to third parties in certain circumstances—can’t be exercised by an agency primarily to lower costs.

The government has consistently rebuffed calls to use “march-in ...