Abstract
What would you do if the only drug that could potentially save your lifeispricedsohighthatyouwouldfacefinancialruintopayforit? For many Americans, this dilemma is not a hypothetical but a reality. Those who decide to follow doctor’s orders and pay for their prescriptions sometimes face crushing financial burden. It is not a secret that the price of pharmaceutical drugs in the United States is crippling for many patients. Indeed, the high price of prescriptions is one of the few issues that has garnered bi-partisan concern, with both Joseph Biden and Donald Trump vowing to fight to lower costs. This Note identifies the practice of “patent thicketing” as one practice pharmaceutical companiesemploytokeeppriceshigh. Thestrategyofpatentthicketing involves wrapping up patents in a web of patents that prevent generics from entering the market far past the exclusivity deadlines contemplated bypatentlaw. Indoingso,thispracticeiscaughtinthemiddlebetween preserving intellectual property rights in a manner that encourages innovation on one hand and antitrust laws which should, in theory, prevent monopolistic behavior and foster competition in pharmaceutical markets. This Note examines some solutions that others have offered as well as posits new ones as to how to untangle the mess that is patent thickets.
Recommended Citation
Nachtrieb, William,
Case Note,
INTO THE THICK OF IT: USING ANTITRUST LAW TO TRIM PATENT THICKETS AND LOWER THE PRICE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS,
64 Santa Clara L. Rev.
635
(2025).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol64/iss3/2
