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Article: Patent extension could cost consumers billions of dollars
- Article from:
- Chicago Defender
- Article date:
- June 29, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Chicago Defender Jun 29, 2000. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Patent extension could cost consumers billions of dollars
Pointing to the rising cost of prescription drugs, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has joined colleagues in opposing alleged GOP "back room" attempts to extend patents on a popular allergy drug and other products he says are bitter pills for consumers to swallow.
A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Durbin said one of the provisions -- an extension of the patent held by Columbia University in New York on a cell transformation process -- has been buried deep in the emergency spending section of the annual agriculture spending bill.
The other patent extension on the allergy drug Claritin is being shopped around for inclusion ...