WASHINGTON — Pharmaceutical companies appear to have succeeded in watering down legislation that would have made it harder for them to protect their medicines by accumulating patents — the latest win for the industry in Congress.
The legislation was aimed at patent “thickets,” in which drug makers obtain a large number of patents to extend their pricing monopoly on any given medicine.
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The proposed legislation would prohibit (or review) patents issued after drug initial approval or patents applied for after initial approval?