IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: New York Times

How A Pharmaceutical Company Exploited U.S. Patent System to Make Billions at the Expense of Patients

SACRAMENTO – Californians should have access to affordable medications. Unfortunately, because big pharma has control over costs, patients are often left dealing with the consequences.

A recent article published in the New York Times highlighted how pharmaceutical companies manipulate patents to maintain the highest drug costs at patients' expense. The pharmaceutical manufacturer AbbVie holds a patent for Humira, the best-selling anti-inflammatory medication on the market. The patent for Humira was set to expire at the end of 2016, but through savvy exploitation of the patent system, the company blocked competitors from entering the marketplace until 2023 making Humira the most lucrative franchise in pharmaceutical history. 

AbbVie made a profit at the expense of patients and taxpayers. Between 2016, when the patent was originally set to expire and now, Humira brought in $114 billion in revenue for AbbVie.  

AbbVie’s monopoly on the marketplace will end as new competitors enter the arena. 

“The knockoff drug that regulators authorized more than six years ago, Amgen’s Amjevita, will come to the market in the United States, and as many as nine more Humira competitors will follow this year from pharmaceutical giants including Pfizer. Prices are likely to tumble. 

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"AbbVie orchestrated the delay by building a formidable wall of intellectual property protection and suing would-be competitors before settling with them to delay their product launches until this year.

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"Over the past 20 years, AbbVie and its former parent company increased Humira’s price about 30 times, most recently by 8 percent this month. Since the end of 2016, the drug's list price has gone up 60 percent to $80,000 a year,  according to SSR Health, a research firm. 

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"AbbVie executives have acknowledged that Medicare patients often pay much more than privately insured people...

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“This strategy has been a gold mine for AbbVie, at the expense of patients and taxpayers.” 

Read the full article in The New York Times. 

While pharmaceutical companies continue to increase the cost of medications, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) negotiate with drug manufacturers  to lower costs for patients and employers. PBMs are advocates for consumers and patients in the fight for affordable access to prescription drugs and are the only part of the health care system to apply downward pressure on drug prices. 

About PCMA
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs administer prescription drug plans for more than 275 million Americans who have health insurance from a variety of sponsors including commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, union plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), state government employee plans, managed Medicaid plans, and others.

PCMA continues to lead the effort in promoting PBMs and the proven tools they utilize, which are recognized by consumers, employers, policymakers, and others as key drivers in lowering prescription drug costs and increasing access.