Warren, Jayapal Push Patent Office to Tackle High Drug Prices

Progressive lawmakers are continuing to press the US Patent and Trademark Office on its efforts to combat high drug prices and what the lawmakers describe as anticompetitive business practices by pharmaceutical companies.

In a Monday letter to PTO Director Kathi Vidal, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) took the office to task for its letter responding to their June 2021 letter on the same topic. They wrote that the PTO’s lacking response “raises questions about whether the Office is fully cognizant of the ways in which evergreening, patent thickets, and product hopping undermine the legitimacy of our ...