Gutting Patent Protection Won't Cure COVID-19

To ensure that coronavirus vaccines and treatments are “available at a price affordable to all people,” Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and several other House Democrats recently proposed a radical solution to the coronavirus pandemic — commandeer any lifesaving, yet-to-be-created vaccine and allow the government to set “reasonable” prices.

Although this may sound like it would benefit people, it would be a disaster for patients. Intellectual property protections aren’t a barrier to care. Just the opposite. They’re responsible for the most revolutionary medical innovations in human history. And t...