patent extensions are inevitable in the squo through loopholes, the aff just formalizes them to spur innovation

(Evan Mintz, graduate of Cardozo School of Law, Director, Executive Communications of Arnold Ventures, 10/06/2023, “How a Broken Patent System Contributes to Unaffordable Prescription Drugs”, Arnold Ventures, , accessed 06/27/2024) Cinj - WH

If you invent and successfully patent a product in the United States, it is typically protected from competition for 20 years. This intellectual property system, which is established , is intended to ​“promote the progress of science and useful arts” by rewarding innovation with a government-granted monopoly for a set period of time.

But today, drug manufacturers are exploiting loopholes in the system to extend their monopolies and stifle competition long beyond that 20-year timeline, which results in high and rising prescription and undermines the very purpose of patent law. These anticompetitive behaviors contribute to a status quo of unaffordable prescription drugs where about report struggling to afford the drugs they are prescribed.

We talked to Wayne Brough, the policy director for technology and innovation at the center-right think tank the R Street Institute, about this critical but complex policy issue.

Brough tackled patent reform in his recent report, , which looks at how drug companies’ strategic patenting practices harm competition and consumer welfare and identifies potential legislative and regulatory reforms that could improve the entire patent system. He has also called for bipartisan action around patent reform, publishing an of the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge (I-MAK), which reminds lawmakers that patent abuses that lead to the outlandish cost of prescription drugs are not a Republican or Democratic issue. ​“When the patent system fails, we all suffer,” they write.