Partnership Between Drug Giant And Native American Tribe May Affect Patent Challenges

NCPR | By David Sommerstein

Published September 19, 2017 at 4:59 PM EDT

A drug company and a native tribe in upstate New York have struck a deal. They will use the tribe's sovereign status to enhance the patent protection for the drug company's products. Critics say it's a work-around of patent law, but the tribe sees it as just monetizing a resource they are entitled to: their sovereign status.

David Sommerstein

David Sommerstein, a contributor from North Country Public Radio (NCPR), has covered the St. Lawrence Valley, Thousand Islands, Watertown, Fort Drum and Tug Hill regions since 2000. Sommerstein has reported extensively on agriculture in New York State, Fort Drum’s engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the lives of undocumented Latino immigrants on area dairy farms. He’s won numerous national and regional awards for his reporting from the Associated Press, the Public Radio News Directors Association, and the Radio-Television News Directors Association. He's regularly featured on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Only a Game, and PRI’s The World.

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