Boehringer Ingelheim has claimed that AbbVie wrongfully created a “patent thicket” around Humira®, and it is delaying biosimilar competition. While that defense is unique, and may be hard to prove on its face, the FDA appears to agree with Boehringer. Did AbbVie create a wrongful “patent thicket” around Humira®?
Read MoreWe previously blogged about Pfizer’s ($PFE) antitrust lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) related to Janssen’s Remicade®. In short, Pfizer launched Inflectra® in 2016, which is a biosimilar to Janssen’s Remicade®. Yet, Inflectra® has struggled to eat into Janssen’s monopoly for Remicade®. Pfizer claims that Inflectra®’s poor sales are due to anticompetitive rebate schemes by Janssen. Specifically, Janssen forced hospitals and insurers to enter exclusive arrangements and bundled-rebated programs that discouraged them from stocking or covering Inflectra®. Pfizer sued Janssen in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Janssen moved to dismiss, but on August 10, the Court denied Janssen’s motion to dismiss. What are the takeaways?
Read More