The Patent Infringement Exemption Land Grab

摘要

There are two fronts on the efforts to limit exposure to liability for infringement of drug discovery patents. On one front, Merck has appealed to the US Supreme Court in Integra v. Merck, arguing that the clinical use exception to patent infringement should extend all the way back to its preclinical laboratory studies. On another front, new legislation is being pushed to adopt a research use exception to patent infringement. This two-pronged attack will allow Big Pharma to carry out its drug development without having to worry about those pesky small companies that have paved the way by developing and patenting new potential drugs and drug discovery tools. This attack on the patent system threatens to undermine the net worth of many small- to medium-sized pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies.