If elected, several Democratic presidential candidates said they will invoke a law that would allow the president to lower drug prices without congressional approval, according to The Hill.
A section of the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, known as "march-in rights," allows the president to break the patent on a drug if it's priced too high, allowing a different drugmaker to develop a cheaper option. March-in authority is available when a drug is developed using public funding like National Institutes of Health grants and when the drug is not available to the public on "reasonable terms."
Though it has never been done before, Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have all indicated they would exercise their authority to use the law if elected.
Mr. Buttigieg included the law in his drug-pricing proposal released Oct. 7. Ms. Harris has said she would use her authority for "egregious offenders," and Mr. Sanders said in August that his administration would exercise march-in rights, according to The Hill.
A spokesperson for Ms. Warren's campaign also confirmed to The Hill that she would use her authority to lower drug prices using march-in rights.
The pharma industry has argued march-in rights would hurt competition and its ability to develop new treatments.
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