STAT+: Pharmalittle: FTC challenges ‘inaccurately or improperly’ listed patents; Elliott builds stake in BioMarin
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Making good on a recent threat, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is challenging more than 100 patents on brand-name medicines that it says were improperly or inaccurately listed by some of the world’s biggest drug companies in a key government registry, STAT writes. The agency notified 10 companies that listings for dozens of patents on such medicines as asthma inhalers and epinephrine autoinjectors are being disputed. The companies that received warning notices included AbbVie, AstraZeneca, and subsidiaries of GSK and Teva Pharmaceutical. The companies have 30 days to withdraw or amend their patent listings, or certify under penalty of perjury the listings comply with federal law.
Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has built a stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical and and held discussions with the company for months about its future, according to Reuters. The hedge fund, which oversees some $60 billion in assets, has spent over $1 billion on the stake in BioMarin, which focuses on rare genetic disorders and is valued at about $16 billion. BioMarin is trying to find its footing amid a change in chief executives and slow progress in the launch of its drug Roctavian to treat hemophilia. Analysts noted that BioMarin’s hard-to-manufacture therapies and the fact that its entire portfolio is excluded from Medicare prescription drug price negotiations could appeal to buyers.
