Trump is right: Abusive patents are the culprit behind high drug prices, but his plan doesn’t solve anything

By Priti Krishtel

On May 11th, President Trump finally delivered a long-awaited speech on his drug pricing plan. His speech missed the mark on his ‘America First’ approach of scapegoating other countries for America’s ills, but he was right on one count: our pharmaceutical market is broken and anticompetitive due to persistent abuse of the U.S. patent system by drugmakers. Any meaningful solution must tackle that problem head-on.

American’s drug prices are exorbitant because the pharmaceutical industry, in effect, prolongs monopolies over branded medications in the U.S. Over the past two decades, companies have begun to employ a large toolbox of tricks to block competition and keep affordable versions of medicines out of the marketplace.

While Trump’s rhetoric highlights unfair monopolies by drugmakers as a crucial issue, there is cause for concern. Trump’s actual plan for lowering drug prices — a 44-page “American Patients First” document released by the White House — provides no clear blueprint for patent reform and actually blames too few patents, and lack of exclusivity periods, for exorbitant drug prices. This is a gross misunderstanding of the root cause of our current crisis.

The pharmaceutical industry exploits our lax legal system to garner unmerited patents on vital medications and block competition for decades. This is causing drug prices to spiral out of control, keeping prices high on life-saving medications. Consider Revlimid ®, Celgene’s treatment for multiple myeloma, a particularly acute type of blood cancer. An I-MAK analysis found that as a result of over-patenting, the market will not be open to generic competitors until 2028. As a result, payers are projected to spend $45 billion in excess costs for the drug within this period — an unconscionable drain on both our economy and ailing families.

Of course, incentives are necessary to inspire invention. And to be sure, branded companies deserve to be rewarded when they develop genuinely new drugs. But the pharmaceutical industry has warped the system by filing thickets of patents on life-saving treatments, ironically locking up the resources and knowledge needed to fuel invention and competition — and worse, holding drugs out of reach from families desperately waiting for treatment. The truth is that we can no longer afford for our patent system to be treated as sacrosanct and above scrutiny.

If the White House doesn’t understand the true root of our current crisis, they cannot fix it. And it is indeed a crisis — for some, a matter of life-and-death. One in four Americans reports being unable to fill a prescription for themselves or a family member due to those prices. High drug prices force up to eight percent of Americans to travel overseas to purchase medicines. And while drug prices have tripled in the last decade, analysts predict that these prices are poised to double again in the next decade. If this becomes a reality, it will cripple household budgets across America.

Families should not be forced to choose between life-saving medication and putting food on their table. Policymakers must answer with solutions that actually reduce prices. And that starts with a patent system that is democratic, competitive, and inclusive, balancing the rights of companies with the needs of patients and families waiting for treatment.

A smart policy approach must ensure that pharmaceutical patent rights are subject to rigorous scrutiny and review through processes like the Patent Trial and Appeal Board — a reasonable, less costly way to make decisions and reverse bad patents that are clogging the market. More patents are not the answer. We must also work to ensure that unmerited patents are not granted in the first place by strengthening the legal standards for monopoly rights.

The drug pricing epidemic has been fueled by the inequity and imbalance of power between working people and the pharmaceutical industry. The solution is a healthy and competitive marketplace which can bring down prices through generic entry. President Trump was right that we must stop abuse of the patent system to solve our current crisis, but he isn’t offering the roadmap to get us there. And it is American families who will continue to suffer.

Priti Krishtel is the Co-Executive Director of I-MAK.org, a non-profit organization comprised of senior attorneys, scientists and health experts who have worked to lower drug prices for 15 years. She can be reached at priti@i-mak.org.