Patent issues have moved to center stage in Washington. In June, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that pharma companies can do research on patented materials without infringing on intellectual property rights. Patent-extension proposals continue to pop up as incentives for desirable new drug research. Congress has launched a serious effort to overhaul the current US patent system and policies. And, somewhat ironically, industry strategies for transferring valuable patent rights to overseas subsidiaries put pharma companies in a prime position to benefit from a one-time tax break for companies that bring some of those foreign profits back to this country. (See "Bringing It All Back Home.")

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