Ranking Member Cassidy Rebukes Biden Admin Claiming Authority to Seize Drug Patents

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released a statement following reporting that “the Biden administration has determined that it has the authority to seize the patents of certain high-priced medicines.”

In a Washington Post OpEd, former Senators Birch Bayh (D-IN) and Bob Dole (R-KS) made clear that the Bayh-Dole legislation, which the Biden administration is using to claim this authority, “did not intend that government set prices on resulting products. The law makes no reference to a reasonable price that should be dictated by the government.”

“The Biden administration does not have the legal authority for this use of march-in rights. Prior administrations of both parties have all agreed on this point, as have the bipartisan senators who wrote the law,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This kind of short-sighted decision would kill American health care innovation and deny millions of Americans future lifesaving cures and treatments.  As a doctor, I know that lives that could be saved will be lost if President Biden takes this action. The best I can say about this is that they will lose in court.”

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