The White House is threatening the patents of high-priced drugs developed with taxpayer dollars
The White House is threatening the patents of high-priced drugs developed with taxpayer dollars
The Biden administration is putting pharmaceutical companies on notice. Washington is warning them that if the price of certain drugs is too high, the government might cancel their patent protection and allow rivals to make their own versions.
The Biden administration is putting pharmaceutical companies on notice, warning them that if the price of certain drugs is too high, the government might cancel their patent protection and allow rivals to make their own versions.
Under a plan announced Thursday, the government would consider overriding the patent for high-priced drugs that have been developed with the help of taxpayer money and letting competitors make them in hopes of driving down the cost.
In a 15-second video released to YouTube on Wednesday night, President Joe Biden promised the move would lower prices.
“Today, we’re taking a very important step toward ending price gouging so you don’t have to pay more for the medicine you need,” he said.
Just fucking do it
That's what they're doing! They are announcing a new executive department regulation about implementation of a specific law. You have to propose the regulation first. A public comment period and other mandatory things have to follow. The regulation they're proposing is that they will also consider high drug prices and gouging by pharmaceuticals in their decision making on whether to over ride patent rights. Previously this was not a regulation, so they can not do it right now. Once the regulation is in place, then they can start taking specific actions on drug companies. If they just start doing shit willy nilly without going through the process of new regulations, it'll just get struck down by the courts in a nanosecond. That's why a lot of the dumb horrible crap trump tried to do got struck down well before Biden even took office.
why actually do something when you can score huge amounts of political points by merely threatening to do something?
Because you just spent all your political goodwill and you better cash in right away.
It’s Biden, he won’t actually DO anything, just talk about it and not actually do it
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/biden-promise-tracker/?ruling=true
That's just factually untrue. He's actively trying to do stuff.
Uh, good. This should be the norm. It is all of us that pay for the research but then the profit is privatized. That should not be a thing.
Privatize profits, socialize losses.
If it’s developed with taxpayer dollars, it should not be patented by a corporation. I don’t care what it is we’re talking about. Taxpayer money is supposed to go to improving the lives of Americans, not enriching corporations.
The only argument I can see is maybe if the grant (whatever it is called) only covers for partial, so like if the government adds in $10k, then that shouldn't be the same as them funding the whole thing (this number is not exact I got no idea on true amounts). So some leeway but they shouldn't get a full patent if taxpayers money is used on it for sure.
Though then you'll get some creative accounting to show the government spent less percentage than thought and all that so it sucks but something needs to make sure taxpayers get what they paid for.
Almost ALL drug research is based on what is called fundamental research, which is basic research that at first glance does not seem to lead to any practical application. E.g., one group might discover an unusual protein side chain, another group then found that this side chain is inhibited by a certain molecule and another traced the metabolic pathway. These are usually done by postgrad students at universities all around the world and funded by their own governments via research grants. Almost always, these grants are paid by the country's tax payers.
Here's the kicker. To get noticed and to get promotions, these researchers have to PAY publishing companies to publish their findings in journals, after which the publisher owns the copyright to it and put up an obscene paywall.
Then, pharmaceutical companies skim these publications, usually combining the findings of 100s of articles as their starting point to develop new drugs. E.g. that protein side chain mentioned earlier turned out to be a target for anticancer drugs. Without these basic findings, big pharma don't even know where to start. Essentially, governments and tax payers around the world subsidize the basic research of big pharma only for these companies to charge obscene prices and region lock the drugs.
Permanently Deleted
I’m slightly surprised. You don’t see many bootlickers on Lemmy. Listen, no matter how much you deepthroat your boss’s footwear, you’re never going to be part of the capitalist class. You’re gonna die a nobody, by your own reckoning, and your heroes are never going to have even cared that you existed.
You poor, sad little man.
This is good news.
Drugs developed with taxpayer dollars should be free.
Alternative idea: If a pharmaceutical company uses government funds to develop a drug, the patent is limited to 5 years and the government sets the price.
It should be a cost-plus model. They should definitely be able to make back money invested, plus some, to encourage further development.
Good
I would amazed if this could happen in America.
Dude, they're going to do it anyways. Regulate them.
why should the people not get what they pay for?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is putting pharmaceutical companies on notice, warning them that if the price of certain drugs is too high, the government might cancel their patent protection and allow rivals to make their own versions.
Under a plan announced Thursday, the government would consider overriding the patent for high-priced drugs that have been developed with the help of taxpayer money and letting competitors make them in hopes of driving down the cost.
It’s the latest health policy pitch from a White House gearing up to make its efforts to tackle drug prices a central theme in next year’s reelection campaign.
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, has in recent years lobbied the Health and Human Services agency to do so with certain drugs.
“This would be yet another loss for American patients who rely on public-private sector collaboration to advance new treatments and cures,” PhRMA spokesperson Megan Van Etten said.
When the public invests heavily in a private company’s drug, it’s fair to question whether they should have to pay high prices for it, said William Pierce, a former HHS official during President George W. Bush’s administration.
The original article contains 548 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I read as, "Bidens life is in danger, stay tuned."
Do it pussy. We're suffering ....