The Biden Administration on Thursday announced it is setting new policy that will allow it to seize patents for medicines developed with government funding if it believes their prices are too high.

The policy creates a roadmap for the government’s so-called march-in rights, which have never been used before. They would allow the government to grant additional licenses to third parties for products developed using federal funds if the original patent holder does not make them available to the public on reasonable terms.

Under the draft roadmap, seen by Reuters, the government will consider factors including whether only a narrow set of patients can afford the drug, and whether drugmakers are exploiting a health or safety issue by hiking prices.

“We’ll make it clear that when drug companies won’t sell taxpayer funded drugs at reasonable prices, we will be prepared to allow other companies to provide those drugs for less,” White House adviser Lael Brainard said on a press call.

  • SpookyUnderwear@eviltoast.org
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    1 year ago

    I’m usually not in favor of government intervention/overreach, but it’s not like corporations are going to do anything in our favor, and many people need specific medication to, you know, be alive. So +1 for the federal government.

    • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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      1 year ago

      I’m a big fan of government intervention considering the festering shit hole of a country capitalism has created for us.

      • SpookyUnderwear@eviltoast.org
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        1 year ago

        The government makes a lot of things worse when they get involved. I trust them as much as I trust corporations.

        Also stop the hyperbole. I’m not one of your fellow communist. Though I’m on Lemmy so I don’t blame you if you assumed as much. America is one of the most well off countries, and the standard of living is far better than most countries. Not all, but most. It’s far from a “shit hole”.

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Good video and I will be sharing it in the future. And I’m also sure there is at least a little bit of that going on here.

            However, the poster does have a point on how far left lemmy is. Additionally, the poster in question called the US a “festering shit hold of a country” and effectively blame capitalism for that. So the assumption seems pretty reasonable, even if I wouldn’t have made it myself.

          • SpookyUnderwear@eviltoast.org
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            1 year ago

            Two obvious truths on Lemmy: almost everyone here is anti-capitalist/borderline communist, and almost everyone has a huge boner for Linux.