Chris Israel, Executive Director of the Alliance of U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs (USIJ), released a statement urging lawmakers to oppose the Eliminating Thickets to Improve Competition (ETHIC) Act, warning that it undermines the patent protections essential for pharmaceutical startups. He emphasized that the bill rests on misconceptions about “patent thickets” and would weaken investor confidence in early-stage drug development.
“This proposal represents a clear danger for startups across the pharmaceutical sector, which are responsible for the development of over half of the new medications approved by the FDA every year… Weakening the patent rights of startups, and therefore their ability to effectively respond to infringement litigation, will harm their ability to conduct future life-saving research and development.”