Just like Angela Bassett, the Senate Judiciary Committee did the thing, and passed five bipartisan bills to ​​help fix key elements of our rigged drug price system.  

Welcome To The Week In Review.

  1. The Inflation Reduction Act Keeps Bringing Relief

 2. Senators Are Serious About PBM Reform

3.  It’s TIME To “Return The Patent System To Its Original Intent”   

This week, leaders in the drug pricing space and members of Congress are talking about how Big Pharma’s abuse of the U.S. drug patent system continues to force patients to pay high drug prices. “At the root of our nation’s drug pricing crisis is the industry’s egregious abuse of a broken drug patent system,” the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK)’s Tahir Amin and P4AD’s David Mitchell summarized in a new op-ed in TIME. The authors call on Congress to “stand up to drugmakers’ deceptive, anti-competitive tactics and return the patent system to its original intent.” Members of Congress are taking note of Big Pharma’s patent abuses, too. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and Reps. Katie Porter and Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter on Wednesday to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) asking the agency to closely review additional patent requests on Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. Merck is attempting to “[extend] its monopoly power over the drug” with additional patents that would delay competing drugs from coming to market, keep prices high, and limit access for patients. This inquiry follows the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent passage of five bipartisan bills that include legislation to address patent abuse and increase coordination between the USPTO and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that patents are not unfairly blocking competition. We are grateful to see momentum and bipartisan support for patent reform from members of Congress – and we will keep fighting until the rigged patent system is fixed and patients can afford their medications. — (TIMEEndpoints

Bonus: ICYMI, check out last week’s media roundup of P4AD leaders and patient advocates debunking Big Pharma, fighting for future reforms, and celebrating recent wins.

Have a great weekend, everyone!