Patents, when properly granted, can be vital to our economy. But in recent years patent abuse has become more common, resulting in many low-quality patents and patents whose only value is to block competition on earlier inventions entering the public domain. Companies try to exploit patent system loopholes and maintain monopolies because they can earn outsized profits. This results in an overloaded US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that has been granting patents that do no

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives, in an encouraging step for consumers, unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to lower drug prices by regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and bringing more transparency to the PBM market. The Public Disclosure of Drug Discounts Act was sponsored by Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger (VA-7) and it requires PBMs to report their aggregate rebates, discounts, and other price concessions for prescription drugs to a pu

Last week on Thursday, October 17th the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved Speaker Nancy Pelosi's broad bill to reduce prescription drug costs, and added a couple of amendments that strengthened the bill. While the legislation has to be approved by other committees before it reaches the House floor, this is an encouraging step for advocates and consumers. The bill is numbered HR 3 and formally titled the Lower Drug Care Costs Now Act. It was approved by the House En

Senators, prescription drug experts, and other advocates are expressing more concerns about AbbVie's $63 billion acquisition of Allergan and its impacts on competition and consumers. Both drug companies are notorious for their anticompetitive behavior and attempts to prevent competition from other drugs. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 17th, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct) asked Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Joseph Simons a couple of qu

Three weeks ago, Consumer Action held its annual conference in Chicago, where over a hundred consumer advocates heard about various consumer issues. Rising prescription drug prices are a huge problem, and a great many of the advocates said reducing them was a top priority. Consumer organizer Michael DeLong gave a presentation on drug prices and then answered questions. In their latest issue, Consumer Action looks at skyrocketing drug costs and reviews possible solutions, rang

Over forty three million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, the federal health care programs for seniors that has a substantial prescription drug benefit. But these beneficiaries are increasingly paying higher out of pocket costs at the pharmacy counter. Why? Because Medicare is increasingly keeping generics off formularies and instead using more expensive brand drugs. Congress should step in and solve this problem by ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries can get cheaper gen