Amid concerns that the pharmaceutical industry abuses the U.S. patent system, a new paper suggests one way to crack down on the problem — amend a little-known method for correcting mistakes that lengthen the life of a patent and, consequently, can greatly add to the cost of medicines.
The idea is to improve the way administrative delays are handled at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Sometimes, a delay is caused by a patent review, so the PTO will compensate the pharmaceutical company by extending the life of the patent by the number of days caused by the delay. Conversely, if a company was slow to respond to requests, the time is subtracted from the patent life.
The process for handling delays is called a patent term adjustment. The process was created as part of a federal law called the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 and was seen as a way to compensate patent applicants when the PTO failed to act on applications within specified time limits. And to get it right, the PTO relies on automated software.
This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers
Unlock this article — plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and networking platform access.
Already have an account? Log in
Already have an account? Log in
About the Author Reprints
To submit a correction request, please visit our Contact Us page.
STAT encourages you to share your voice. We welcome your commentary, criticism, and expertise on our subscriber-only platform, STAT+ Connect