Watchdog Urges State AGs to Respect Intellectual Property

For Immediate Release
August 5, 2020
Contact: Grace Morgan
(202-855-4380)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) slammed a group of state attorneys general (AGs) for seeking to undermine the intellectual property (IP) protections of critical medications. In an August 4 letter to federal officials, 34 AGs urged policymakers to disregard drug manufacturer Gilead’s patent on remdesivir. The AGs proposed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) license the medication to another producer, ostensibly to benefit Americans unable to afford treatment. The medication continues to be studied by researchers as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

TPA President David Williams criticized the AGs’ proposal, stating, “now is the worst possible time to undermine IP protections for critical medications. Thanks to strong patent protections, countless drug manufacturers have set up shop and conducted significant research and development in the U.S.  If federal policymakers listen to this group of state AGs, these pivotal protections will be undermined, and producers will be forced to scale back their cutting-edge work. Without IP protections, pharmaceutical manufacturers and researchers will not have the tools they need to rid the U.S. – and the world – of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Williams continued, “in their letter, the state AGs urge the federal government to use the Bayh-Dole Act to disregard patents and license remdesivir to another manufacturer. These reckless actions would lead to harmful unintended consequences and undermine the central protections offered by the 40-year-old legislation. The legislation has brought about countless breakthroughs, and innovations funded with taxpayer dollars have been commercialized and now benefit the public. But invoking the law’s harmful, never-used ‘march-in’ provisions would spell disaster for IP protections. The AGs’ proposed actions would undermine innovation and set a disturbing precedent for property rights violations.”

Williams concluded, “Unfortunately, anti-IP sentiments have been on the rise lately among policymakers. Since the start of the pandemic, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have proposed circumventing IP protections and punishing producers for researching and manufacturing life-saving medications. Officials at the state and federal level should recognize the outsized role that pro-patent policies have played in saving and bettering millions of lives. Now is certainly not the time to diminish these critical protections.”

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