Federal regulators are challenging patents on 20 brand name drugs, including the blockbuster weight-loss injection Ozempic, in the latest action by the Biden administration targeting industry practices that drive up pharmaceutical prices.
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sent warning letters to 10 drugmakers, taking issue with patents on popular drugs for weight loss, diabetes, asthma and other reparatory conditions. The letters allege that certain patents filed by Novo Nordisk, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and seven other companies are inaccurate or misleading.
Brand-name drugmakers use patents to protect their medicines and stave off cheaper, generic medicines. Most blockbuster drugs are protected by dozens of patents covering various ingredients, manufacturing processes and intellectual property. Generic drugmakers can only launch their own cheaper versions if the patents have expired or are successfully challenged in court.
“By filing bogus patent listings, pharma companies block competition and inflate the cost of prescription drugs, forcing Americans to pay sky-high prices for medicines they rely on,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan, in a statement.
FTC seems to have really hit its stride lately.
It’s part of the Executive Branch.
Re-elect Biden for more of the same.
Look what Democratic control of regulatory agencies does.
If you elect Republicans again, there won’t be any agencies to protect people.
Lina Khan is one of the best appointments Biden has made, and hes made some pretty solid choices.
They just allowed T Mobile to buy Mint mobile. They’re probably also going to allow for a Paramount merger or acquisition. Don’t get too excited about the FTC.
I’ve been buying my inhalers from someone I met on reddit who happened to live an hour away from me. She has extras because - despite trying to change it - Medicaid keeps sending her twice as many as she needs.
$50 each. Otherwise I’d be paying $368…and that’s with insurance.
Fuck these companies. The only difference between these expensive inhalers and the old version ($40 with insurance) is wheel that rotates the numbers but their patent probably expired so they “updated” it
But why isn’t another brand available that makes the old one? Why doesn’t USA have parallel imports which AFAIK is common most places?
Seem to me the US system is rotten on multiple levels.I haven’t looked into it since I got my black market inhalers lookup but if I’m remembering correctly, another company IS making a generic version the old version…it’s just not fuckin covered by insurance.
I looked at all the cheap online pharmacies (goodrx, those Indian sites) and it still wasn’t affordable
it’s just not fuckin covered by insurance.
Ah yes, privatized healthcare…
I really feel sorry for those Americans that actually voted to change that and never got it.After two decades of complaining my conservative parents are starting to feel it. They’ve gone their whole lives without any health concerns until recently. All I can say is…you see our healthcare system suck ass now, right?
Problem is that from what I hear, conservatives tend to blame the liberals for it, because free market fixes everything if only those pesky regulations wouldn’t stand in the way.
They literally believe the water would be cleaner without regulation to prevent pollution and keep it clean. It’s next level indoctrination for decades.Free market brought us Uber and Lyft! Amazing! But then it also brought us present day Uber and Lyft. Absolute shit.
There might be, but the doctor is prescribing the new one and the old is not substituteable. there may or may not be other differences between the old and new that matter (I don’t know about this case, but in some there are and some there are not) Doctors never prescribe A or B - it is always A and if you want B that needs a new prescription. The doctor needs to know what you have as if there is an allergy or other problem they need to deal with it (if you always get B it may be A doesn’t work for you and we don’t know as you never tried. Or it may be that either would work but you go through withdrawal if you switch)
Is the FTC targeting any US pharma company? Novo Nordisk is Danish and GSK and Astra Zeneca are British.
They’re incorporated and doing business in the US, so they must follow the rules.
