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Regulation and Policy Update: SOT Supports Patent Law Precedence, Funding for the ECHO Program, and the RISE Act of 2021

By Myrtle Davis posted 06-10-2021 13:40

  

Patent Law Precedent by the Supreme Court

A letter co-signed by SOT was sent to US President Joe Biden on June 8, 2021, that expressed “our opposition to legislation or regulatory action that would overturn established Supreme Court precedent and expand patent-eligible subject matter to encompass abstract ideas, laws of nature, or natural phenomena.”

The letter, created by the American Civil Liberties Union and co-signed by 38 organizations, is in response to legislation proposed in 2019—the themes of which were revisited recently by select senators—that would “abrogate all case law establishing and interpreting this limitation on subject matter eligibility” of patents and trademarks. The letter that fully describes the signatories’ concerns is available on the SOT website.

FY 2022 Funding for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program

SOT was a co-signatory on letters requesting at least $180 million in funding in FY 2022 for the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program that were sent to the leadership of the US House and Senate Committees on Appropriations and Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on May 27, 2021 (view letter to the House; view letter to the Senate). The letters were spearheaded by the American Academy of Pediatrics and received the support of 40 co-signing organizations.

Per the National Institutes of Health website, the ECHO Program “aims to determine what factors give children the highest probability of achieving the best health outcomes over their lifetimes” through observational research and the utilization of the ECHO IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN) for intervention research.

Support for Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act of 2021

On April 30, 2021, a letter was sent to the US Congress leadership urging “the quick passage of the Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act to reinvigorate the federal research enterprise, including that funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has been limited by the COVID-19 pandemic.” SOT is one of 76 signatories on the letter that was developed by the Endocrine Society.

The RISE Act of 2021, as introduced to Congress, would supply $25 billion in emergency funding to continue federally funded research that has been stalled, delayed, or stopped because of the pandemic. The bill has not been called to a vote, and there are currently 161 co-sponsors in Congress.

To view all letters signed and statements made by SOT, visit the “SOT Statements” web page. Also, follow @SOTleadership on Twitter for news and updates from SOT Council.


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