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NIH-Licensed Patents Don’t Account For Substantial Drug Spending, GAO Finds

 
• By Derrick Gingery

Far from energizing the ‘march-in’ debate, the GAO study finds limited potential impact, but a new antitrust clause in licensing agreements could give companies something to worry about even if specter of government pricing setting might not be a big concern. Even though GAO found that NIH-licensed products amount to about 1% of government drug spend, the issue isn’t likely to disappear because Biden will face continued pressure to act on drug pricing and a Republican Senate gives him few options.

Macro photo of tooth wheel mechanism with PATENTS concept letters
The GAO recommended HHS create a searchable database of NIH patents and licenses to increase transparency. • Source: Shutterstock

Inventions developed at the US Health and Human Services Department have led to several FDA-approved therapies, but they account for a small fraction of federal drug spending, suggesting that a push to invoke federal march-in rights may have a limited effect on drug prices.

A Government Accountability Office

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