Patent Reform

Insulin was discovered over 100 years ago. Medical patents give inventors exclusive rights to their creations for a set period of time to incentivize innovation by allowing the inventor to profit. But the scientists who discovered insulin sold the patent for $1 saying that insulin belongs to the world. Instead, patent laws have been manipulated to create monopolies rather than fostering competition.

Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world

– Frederick Banting

Co-discoverer of Insulin

Canada, 1923

Today, pharmaceutical companies use a tactic called “patent evergreening” where they file new patents on small changes to old medicines to hold onto their monopoly long after it should have ended, keeping prices high and blocking cheaper alternatives from reaching patients. For example, Sanofi has filed nearly twice as many patent applications as their competitors on drugs that have been around for decades. Companies also shift patients to newer, more expensive medicines through couponing and marketing (called “product hopping”) and pay competitors to stay out of the market entirely (called “pay-for-delay” and “killer acquisitions”).

T1International advocates descended on the steps of Congress in 2025 to demand patent reform alongside thousands of patients who signed letters calling for change. Our Federal Working Group held nearly 100 lobby meetings in a single year pushing for reform that would end the patent abuse keeping insulin prices high.