The Biden administration may take redistribution to new extremes if a policy revision floated in December comes to fruition. The White House wants to give federal agencies the right to seize some pharmaceutical patents when they deem drug prices too high.
President Joe Biden claims authority to act under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which lets nonprofits and small businesses retain ownership of inventions made possible by federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements—so long as they patent and license these inventions. Its impetus was all the innovation languishing under government ownership.
