Democrats Tout Federal Patent Take-Backs for Lowering Drug Costs

Several Democratic candidates for president have been touting a method for reclaiming drug patents as a silver bullet approach they would use to lower the cost of medication, but lawyers in the field say the tactic is more cumbersome and challenging than promised.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have all said that, if elected, they would use government authority to take back patents from drug companies to get lower-cost drugs on the market sooner.

The concept is known as “march-in” rights, a provision of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which ...