It’s key to pharma innovation in particular – aff ev is Big Pharma propaganda.
Johnson and Brough 9-13-2019. [Garrett, Co-founder, Lincoln Network; Wayne T., President of the Innovation Defense Foundation; “Big Pharma is abusing patents, and it’s hurting Americans,” CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/perspectives/drug-patents-abuse/index.html //cpsw-ay]
Big Pharma and their allies have even taken to challenging the Inter Partes Review (IPR) process, an important aspect of the US patent system. The IPR is a procedure conducted by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board within the US Patent and Trademark Office that is an effective tool for weeding out invalid patents. IPR gives the patent office the authority to revisit questionable patents and remove bad ones that should not have been granted in the first place. Often, Big Pharma will write overly broad patents which manage to be granted due to time constraints that limit the examiners ability to carefully review the patent application. IPR helps to ensure that only valid patents are allowed in the market.
Patent reform will be a critical element of any real solution to the problem of rising prescription drug prices in the United States. Streamlining the patent process and strengthening Inter Partes Review as a cost-effective means of challenging bad patents would help to bring generic medications to market and encourage innovations that will benefit patients.