Intellectual Property

  • Read more: Antitrust Implications of Reverse Patent Settlements

    Antitrust Implications of Reverse Patent Settlements

    By Ryan Abbott Last month the US Supreme Court rendered its decision on the reverse payments question.  The Court held in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc. that reverse payment settlements in patent infringement litigation may violate antitrust laws, and therefore, these settlements are not immune from antitrust attack.  Actavis, a generic drug manufacturer, settled…

  • Read more: How global regulations are written

    How global regulations are written

    By Kevin Outterson In secret, during “trade” negotiations. Just one example: the 12 years of data exclusivity for biologics is currently US law, but that may get carved into stone in the new Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TIIP). Once enshrined in a trade agreement, this rule and thousands more will be immune to change…

  • Read more: Reactions to Myriad, two weeks later

    Reactions to Myriad, two weeks later

    By Nicholson Price Two weeks after the Supreme Court held isolated naturally occurring DNA unpatentable in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., there’s been quite a lot of commentary about the case’s implications for the biotech industry and medical science.  I’ll just mention a few here, with the certainty that there will be…

  • Read more: Supreme Court Decision on FTC v. Actavis paves the way for development of cheaper drugs

    Supreme Court Decision on FTC v. Actavis paves the way for development of cheaper drugs

    By Arthur Caplan Zachary D Caplan JD, attorney at law firm in Philadelphia that filed amicus brief on behalf of drug wholesalers and pharmacies in FTC v. Actavis Arthur Caplan PhD, Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Langone Medical Center Amidst all the news about various Supreme Court decisions there is one that ought not be overlooked…

  • Read more: Supreme Court deals a major blow to reverse-payment settlements.

    Supreme Court deals a major blow to reverse-payment settlements.

    By Nicholson Price The Supreme Court keeps coming out with major opinions in the biotech/pharma area, with today seeing a major blow to reverse-payment settlements wherein brand-name pharma companies pay generic companies to delay their entry into the market.  This type of settlement shows the opposite pattern to that in most patent litigation, where the…

  • Read more: Art Caplan on the Myriad Decision: Patenting natural DNA never made sense

    Art Caplan on the Myriad Decision: Patenting natural DNA never made sense

    By Arthur Caplan Bill of Health contributor Art Caplan weighed in on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Myriad case with an opinion piece at NBC: “The Supreme Court has finally done what should have been done years ago — declared that genes which naturally exist in all of us cannot be patented.  For years…

  • Read more: Eric Lander on the Myriad Decision

    Eric Lander on the Myriad Decision

    This morning on WBUR, Eric Lander discussed the significance of the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics that DNA cannot be patented. Lander, the Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, filed an amicus brief in the case that was co-authored by Petrie-Flom Center Faculty Co-Director and Bill of Health editor I.…