
Democrats petition US patent office to probe Merck's new Keytruda requests
Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate are asking the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to take a closer look at Merck’s pending patents for its megablockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)’s office announced Thursday that the senator, alongside Senate Health committee chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), wrote a letter to PTO director Kathi Vidal on Wednesday — asking Vidal to scrutinize any new patent requests from Merck for Keytruda, which hauled in $20.9 billion last year.
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