Patents don’t impede patients’ access to drugs and vaccines

By: Jon Soderstrom

Intellectual property rights are under assault overseas — and here at home. These attacks could prevent the creation of dozens of lifesaving medicines. That should worry every American. Consider a few of the latest threats. India and South Africa are petitioning the World Trade Organization to waive patent rights on Covid-19 vaccines, claiming this unprecedented move would boost low-income countries’ access to the shots. Several members of Congress have vocally supported that petition, and the Biden administration is endorsing it. Many other lawmakers are pushing for a domestic version of that proposal. They’re advocating using a four-decade-old law to “march-in” and seize the patents on Covid-19 treatments. Senator Bernie Sanders recently introduced an even more sweeping measure, which would allow the government to effectively nullify patents on any medicines it deems to be “excessively priced.”

See more in this weeks Boone County Journal