Warren, Jayapal Urge FTC to Fight ‘Sham’ Drug Patent Tactics (1)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) are putting pressure on the Federal Trade Commission ahead of a Thursday meeting to take action against drugmakers for allegedly abusing the patent system to cut down competition and keep costs high.

In a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan, first shared with Bloomberg Law, Warren and Jayapal wrote that the agency should move to “end Big Pharma’s routine exploitation” of the Food and Drug Administration process for listing drug patents and information of interest to competitors.

That process involves the listing of drug information in the FDA’s “Orange Book ...