Washington, D.C. - January 22, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- Americans pay up to 65 percent more for drugs than citizens in other Western countries. One of the reasons is "patent abuse" by drug companies aiming to extend their monopolies as patents are due to expire on brand-name, profit-center drugs. In fact, 75 percent of all pharmaceutical patents between 2005 and 2015 were issued on old, previously patented medicines, not new drugs.
Consumer Action has joined the Coalition Against Patent Abuse (CAPA), a new effort by healthcare providers, consumer groups, patient advocacy organizations, free market advocates, employers and others to fight abuses of the patent system that can extend government-granted monopolies that illegitimately keep drug prices high for years, or even decades.
"Consumer Action strongly agrees with our colleagues in the new coalition that regulators and Congress must work to efficiently eliminate patents sought by drug companies for protectionsim, not innovation," said Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for the San Francisco-based non-profit consumer education and advocacy organization. "CAPA will work to highlight the issue and put pressure on those with the power to stop the abuses."
Legal shenanigans by brand-name drug companies keep medicine prices high for patients, taxpayers and payers of healthcare. They also stifle innovation and medical advancements. CAPA will focus primarily on untoward efforts to maintain government-granted monopolies through abuses of the patent system by drug manufacturers. These tactics by certain brand-name drug companies prevent patients from affordably accessing the life-saving medicines they need, and drain resources to pay for healthcare.
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