Patent Take-Back Plan Not Silver Bullet for Curbing Drug Costs

Taking patents back from drugmakers to lower prices would be harder than Democratic presidential candidates think, attorneys say. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have all said that if elected, they would use “march-in” rights, a provision of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which set rules for when the government may seize patents for inventions that were created with government funding and then license them to other entities. The “march-in” term often is erroneously expanded to refer to a similar policy created under U.S. Code Section 1498, which lets the government authorize the ...