The Senate and the FDA are appealing to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to examine how it can limit the ability of pharmaceutical companies to leverage patent strategies to extend their drug monopolies.
In separate letters last week to the USPTO, FDA acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D., and Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, of the Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee provided suggestions on how the organization can better screen patent applications.
