BIO says IPR exemption won't increase Medicare costs

The Biotechnology Industry Organization believes that a Congressional Budget Office estimate of the cost of proposed patent reforms is based on faulty assumptions, BIO General Counsel Tom DiLenge told BioCentury.

The CBO has made a preliminary estimate that a request from BIO and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America to add language to pending patent reform bills that would exempt drugs and biologics from the inter partes review (IPR) process would cost the U.S. government $1.3 billion over 10 years, according to congressional staff. IPR is an administrative process for challenging the validity of patents. ...