To keep drug prices high, pharma has been piling up the patents
Summary
Ars Technica reports on a JAMA study showing a threefold rise in patents per small-molecule drug from 1990 to 2019, driven largely by nonprimary patents. The proliferation creates patent thickets that delay generic entry and keep drug prices high. The authors call for USPTO scrutiny and legal reforms to curb add-on patents and unlock price competition.