'March-in' battles heat up as nonprofits petition HHS on 6 drugs as earlier petition awaits decision

Eight nonprofits including Public Citizen and PrEP4All are petitioning HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to use controversial “march-in” rights to lower the prices of 6 drugs.

The idea behind the letter is centered on the Bayh-Dole Act, which allows federal agencies to march-in on a federally-funded invention when a rights holder fails to achieve “practical application” of the invention, meaning that the rights holder fails to make the benefits of the invention “available to the public on reasonable terms.”