By Saul Anuzis
America’s seniors have a lot riding on a health care system that works. With fixed incomes, chronic conditions, and the ever-present cost of prescriptions, older Americans need access to both cutting-edge treatments and affordable generics. That delicate balance — breakthrough innovation on one hand, low-cost follow-ons on the other — is sustained by one of the few parts of our health care framework that actually works: our patent system.
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Unfortunately, some lawmakers, under the guise of “cost control,” are threatening to upset this critical equilibrium. By targeting the very patent protections that incentivize medical breakthroughs, they risk dismantling a system that’s quietly delivering for seniors across the country.
Here’s the reality: The U.S. leads the world in pharmaceutical innovation not by accident, but because of a framework that rewards discovery. Patents grant temporary exclusivity to developers who invest enormous capital into new drugs — often more