最近对药物专利裁量权拒绝的变化对药物专利的裁量权提出了挑战
S Sean Tu1,2, Arti Rai3, Aaron S Kesselheim2,4
1University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.
Health affairs scholar
|November 24, 2025
概括
最近美国专利和商标局 (USPTO) 的政策变化限制了专利审查,阻碍了对无效专利的挑战. 这些转变,特别是自由裁量权拒绝,影响药品定价和竞争.
科学领域:
- 知识产权法 知识产权法 知识产权法
- 卫生经济学 卫生经济学
- 监管政策 监管政策
背景情况:
- 美国专利和商标局 (USPTO) 建立了当事人间审查 (IPR) 和授权后审查 (PGR) 作为具有成本效益的行政途径,以挑战专利有效性.
- 最近USPTO的政策转变越来越多地利用"自由裁量权拒绝"来限制对这些审查流程的访问,特别是对于较旧的专利.
研究的目的:
- 分析最近USPTO政策变化对行政专利审查途径的可访问性和有效性的影响.
- 评估这些政策转变对专利挑战,药品定价和市场竞争,特别是生物药物的后果.
主要方法:
- 分析USPTO关于裁量权拒绝和程序改革的政策变化.
- 对2025年5月至9月的自由裁量拒绝赠款数据的审查.
- 对专利,生物类似药的进入和药物成本的影响评估.
主要成果:
- 根据USPTO的裁量权拒绝已经增加了三倍,在2025年5月至9月期间,60%的申请被批准,影响了许多药物专利.
- "既定期望"的理由越来越多地被用来阻止对六年以上的专利进行审查.
- 程序改革,包括缩短短的时间和集中决策,进一步限制了挑战者选择和透明度.
结论:
- 目前的USPTO政策破坏了IPR和PGR的最初意图,即提供高效和负担得起的专利审查.
- 这些变化加剧了生物药物的"专利",延迟了生物类似药的竞争,并维持了高的药物成本.
- 国会应该介入,澄清自由裁量权拒绝标准,并禁止基于非优点的拒绝,以确保公平的专利监督和获得负担得起的药物.
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