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Patents on drugs, biologics and medical devices increase the cost of healthcare. For many individuals, in the U.S. and worldwide, the price of drugs is prohibitively expensive, leaving patients without adequate treatment. Patients Not Patents is committed to ensuring access to healthcare through litigation, advocacy, and education. Patients not Patents challenges the validity of medical patents before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Breaking news:
Abbott Labs deletes safety info from online site.
Read press release...
Supreme Court Won't Decide Labcorp Case
The Supreme Court, without comment, declined to decide the case about the validity of patents on basic scientific facts. The ruling lets stand the lower court opinion that such patents are valid. Justice Breyer, however wrote an excellent dissent, arguing not only that the Court should have decided the case, but that it should have struck down the patent.
PNP Tells Appeals Court Not to Block Generic Allegra: Patients not Patents filed an amicus brief in Aventis v. Barr Labs with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the court with jurisdiction over appeals in patent cases. A key question before the court is whether a company can block generic versions of a drug after its patent has expired, merely by discovering that the drug is not harmful to a subset of patients already taking the drug. Read the brief.
US-Korea FTA Bad for Health, Says PNP
Joining a coalition of US and Korean NGO's, Patients not Patents signed on to a letter to US Trade Representative Rob Portman, urging him not to pressure South Korea on patent provisions that would harm Koreans' health.
PNP In the News: Patients not Patents' brief in the Labcorp case (see below) has caught the media's attention. The brief was quoted in the Guardian UK and the Chronicles of Higher Education. Patients not Patents Executive Director Jeffrey Light discussed the case on WBAI Radio (New York Pacifica affiliate).
PNP Files Brief With U.S. Supreme Court: Patients not Patents filed an amicus brief with the country's highest court in the case LabCorp v. Metabolite, Inc. The question before the court is the validity of a patent for detecting a vitamin B12 or folate deficiency. The patent, upheld by both lower courts, is necessarily infringed when a doctor orders a routine medical test and then thinks about the results. Read the brief.
5/8/06 Pill Pushers: Abandoning Science for Salesmanship
5/4/06 Drug Industry Conspired to Get Liability Shield
4/26/06 Bitter Pill "Awards" for Overhyped Drugs
4/28/06 Activists Protest Abbott's Failed Promises
4/28/06 Ex-Head of FDA Faces Criminal Inquiry
4/6/06 FTC Proposes Study of "Authorized Generics"
4/27/06 U.S. Likely to Place Israel on Priority Watch List
4/7/06 Reasons to Worry About Bilateral Trade Pacts
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Patent Allowed as Presented 
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