STAT December 6, 2021
The Senate began its confirmation hearing last week for President Biden’s nominee to head the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), intellectual property attorney Kathi Vidal.
While this is one of the more obscure U.S. agencies, it is pivotal in influencing the U.S. health system — from global vaccine equity to the country’s drug pricing crisis. The latter issue touches the lives of the two-thirds of Americans who rely on pharmaceuticals for everything from controlling blood pressure to battling cancer, few of whom know that, as head of the Patent and Trademark Office, Vidal would oversee a system that is being gamed to line the pockets of pharmaceutical companies at the expense of patients.
The consequences of out-of-control pharmaceutical pricing...
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