U. S. drug manufacturers are weaponizing drug patents, giving themselves a continuous monopoly and the ability to exclude generic manufacturers from competition, according to Tahir Amin, LL.B., Dip. LP., founder and executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), a nonprofit organization working to address structural inequities in how medicines are developed and distributed. With 40-year history of weakening patent laws, allowing over 300 patents in the case of Humira, the U. S. Patent Office has allowed patents on procedures which are routine in laboratory practices to large drug manufacturers who can afford to continue to litigate against smaller generic drug companies — to keep their monopoly. I-MAK investigated the abuses of the patent system by drug manufacturers in their new report “Overpatented, Overpriced: How excessive pharmaceutical patenting is extending monopolies and driving up drug prices“

Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here