June 23, 2000

Senator Conrad Burns                                                        Senator Patty Murray
Chairman                                                                            Ranking Member
Appropriations Subcommittee on                                         Appropriations Subcommittee on
Military Construction                                                            Military Construction
SD-140                                                                               SH-123
Washington, D.C. 20510                                                     Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chariman Burns & Ranking Member Murray:

RE: Please Oppose All Patent Extensions on Appropriations Bills

It is our understanding that special interest groups may try to use the Military Construction Appropriations bill, or other appropriations bills, as a vehicle to extend patent protection to certain products. We strongly urge the Committee to oppose such efforts because consumers will end up bearing substantial costs and such actions should be individually reviewed in full sunshine to determine their merits.

Specifically, it is our understanding that Columbia University may be seeking to secretly attach to an appropriations bill a patent extension on its Cotransformation Patent. Such an extension would be highly inappropriate as the product currently does not even qualify for patent extension consideration under the Hatch-Waxman Act. It is also our understanding that the Schering-Plough Corporation may be seeking a patent extension for its allergy drug Claritin, or it may be seeking legislative language that would provide it with legal and procedural tools to achieve the same result.

A patent extension for Claritin has been estimated to cost consumers an extra $7.3 billion. The Columbia patent extension could result in an extra $500 million in royalties for a product that was developed solely at U.S. taxpayer expense. We see no reason to provide such huge financial windfalls to Schering-Plough and Columbia University. Consumers are already paying too much for vital medicines. Moreover, if the claims of these companies have merit, let them take their case to the appropriate authorizing committees, not secretly attach them to an appropriations measure.

Again, we urge you to oppose all patent extension proposals in any appropriations bill.

Sincerely,

The Alzheimer's Association
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Center on Disability and Health
Communications Workers of America
Consumer Federation of America
Consumer Project on Technology
Families USA
National Council of Senior Citizens
National Education Association
National Organization for Rare Disorders
Public Citizen
Service Employees International Union
UNITE, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees
United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America [UAW]
USAction
U.S. PIRG
Wilson’s Disease Association

State Organizations

New Hampshire Association for the Elderly
New York Statewide Senior Action Council

cc: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sen. Larry E. Craig, Sen. Jon L. Kyl, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye