Analysis Finds Brand Name Drug Companies Declined to Even Attempt a Defense of
Dozens of Patents Recently Challenged by the FTC





 



DOSE OF REALITY: BIG PHARMA’S QUICK DELISTING OF MORE THAN 40 SHAM PATENTS
HIGHLIGHTS SCALE OF PATENT THICKETS ON TOP MONEY-MAKERS
Analysis Finds Brand Name Drug Companies Declined to Even Attempt a Defense of
Dozens of Patents Recently Challenged by the FTC



In case you missed it, a new analysis found Big Pharma promptly admitted more
than 40 patents on brand name prescription drugs were shams after the most
recent round of challenges from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).



The FTC issued its latest series of challenges
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to the validity of prescription drug patents in the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration’s (FDA) Orange Book in May. According to ananalysis
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from Competition Dynamics, Inc, published in Law360, Big Pharma companies
responded by delisting 41 unique patents — essentially admitting that dozens of
the challenged patents were so baseless they weren’t even worth an attempted
defense.



Among the delistings, were patents on blockbuster GLP-1 drugs—like Novo
Nordisk’s Ozempic and Saxenda and AstraZeneca’s Bydureon—and COPD inhalers like
AstraZeneca’s Symbicort, GSK’s Anoro Ellipta and Incruse Ellipta and Boehringer
Ingelheim’s Striverdi Respimat.



On paper, the Orange Book is meant to serve as a resource listing all the
patents that brand name drug manufacturers have secured for FDA-approved
products. However, in practice, brand name drug companies effectively game the
Orange Book to make it more challenging for potential competitors to introduce
alternative products to brand name drugs.



The quick delisting of so many patents this year underscores just how many
patents brand name drug companies file on the same product to block would-be
competitors from entering the market — regardless of whether any actual
innovation has occurred.



A recent study
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published in JAMA Health Forum recently found lost competition due to Big
Pharma’s patent thickets on just four widely prescribed brand name drugs cost
patients, taxpayers and the U.S. health care system more than $3.5 billion over
two years due to lost competition.



A January 2023 report
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from Matrix Global Advisors found Big Pharma’s patent thickets on just five
brand name drugs, including AbbVie’s autoimmune drug Humira and oncology drug
Imbruvica, Regeneron’s ophthalmology drug Eylea, Amgen’s autoimmune drug Enbrel
and Bristol Myers Squibb’s oncology drug Opdivo, cost patients, taxpayers and
the U.S. health care system more than $16 billion in a single year.



To stop Big Pharma from gaming the system to keep drug prices high, Congress
must advance bipartisan, market-based solutions, like The Affordable
Prescriptions for Patients Act (S. 1041), and additional solutions to foster
greater competition in the market.



Read the full analysis published in Law360 HERE
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.



Read more on the cost of Big Pharma’s patent abuse HERE
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.



Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to foster greater competition
HERE
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.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable
HERE <[link removed]>.



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