The misuse of patents by some of the world’s biggest pharma companies to stifle competition is rarely discussed in global drug-pricing debates. Yet rectifying this problem could help to lower drug prices for patients everywhere, explains healthcare reporter Jessica Davis Plüss. For the past year countries have been at odds over how to lower drug prices. As United States President Donald Trump sees it, US prices should drop and other countries’ prices should rise to make up for lost pharma revenue. For Swiss authorities, raising prices simply because the US wants them to is out of the question at a time when healthcare costs are soaring. But there are other ways to bring down drug prices that don’t make as many headlines. One is tackling the misuse of patents by some pharma companies to prevent cheaper copycat drugs from coming on the market. A couple of weeks ago, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) together with 47 media partners revealed a sprawling …