New Coalition to Lobby Against Patent Misuse by Branded Companies

A new coalition of advocacy groups has united to oppose misuse of patents by branded drugmakers.

The Coalition Against Patent Abuse (CAPA) includes the Association for Accessible Medicines, Kaiser Permanente, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. The coalition claims monopolistic practices by branded manufacturers are largely to blame for increases in drug spending, keeping keep prices high and stifling innovation.

The coalition plans to push for more policing power for the Patent and Trademark Office and for lower regulatory barriers to generic and biosimilar competition. It also plans to lobby against branded drugmakers’ efforts to revisit court rulings that made it easier to throw out patents found to be invalid.