Patent lawyer seeking US Senate seat proposes patent reform to lower Rx drug costs

Republican Art Gardner, a patent attorney seeking election to the US Senate in Georgia, has issued a press statement, proposing an innovative reform to the nation's patent laws to address the artificially high price of prescription medicines in the USA.

Noting the alarmingly high prices paid in the USA compared to prices in similar countries for many drugs protected by patent, Mr Gardner said: "It is appalling that the US consumer is forced to pay much, much more for the same medicine as consumers in similarly wealthy, industrialized countries. It is simply not right that we are being gouged while others pay much less." Mr Gardner proposes to lower the cost of health care by lowering the cost of medicine.

To do that, Mr Gardner proposes reforming the patent laws (something that few politicians know much about). "I have long considered it terribly wrong that we pay a monopolized market price for medicines covered by patents in the USA, while in most other G7 countries the local (national) government sharply controls the maximum price that the pharmaceutical companies can charge. This causes consumers in the USA to pay much, much more for the same drugs as sold in other countries."