New Biomed Unit Under Pressure to Use Untried Drug Patent Grabs

The NIH could find itself wading into the drug pricing debate as it houses a new biomedical accelerator, despite its longstanding policy not to get involved in the cost of new therapies.

There’s been a push, particularly among progressives, for the NIH to exercise what’s known as march-in rights to temper drug prices—most recently on Astellas’ cancer drug Xtandi. Established under the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, march-in allows the government to seize patents for inventions created with government funding and license them to other entities for commercialization.

No federal agency has ever exercised its march-in rights, and the NIH ...