Direct the commerce department to cease the practice of extending patents for drugs upon the discovery of a new use.

Currently, drug patent holders are able to apply for patent extensions if they find that a drug for which they hold the patent has a secondary use not included in the original application. This practice allows them to keep the prices artificially high in this country, causing undue burden to people with medical conditions related to the original patent. Disallowing patent time extensions for drugs would reduce health care costs for millions of Americans, while still permitting drug companies appropriate exclusive benefit from their investment of time and resources as outlined in the Constitution. This would provide an immediate incremental benefit without complicating any future congressional action to regulate drug pricing in a manner consistent with the rest of the developed world.