U.S. Congress regulatory update

The Biotechnology Industry Organization levied its opposition to a bill in the House of Representatives that would prevent physicians from patenting procedures they develop in the course of their daily practice. There is widespread dispute in the medical community about the increasing prevalence of patenting, rather than freely disseminating medical advances through publication.

Cephalon Inc. President and CEO Frank Baldino, representing BIO, testified before the subcommittee on courts and intellectual property of the House Judiciary Committee in opposition to the bill, HR 1127, introduced by Reps. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. A companion bill, S 1334, has been introduced in the Senate. ...