Posts Tagged: "hepatitis C"

Thanks to a number of new Hepatitis C drugs (Sofosbuvir Ledipasvir, Ladispavir) the disease is curable for many patients. While this is an undeniable victory for patients and payers, the innovators who made this possible have been villainized and undermined. At a time when the public health community should celebrate the tremendous health benefits these breakthrough drugs have brought to patients around the world, they are instead organizing to ensure the destruction of the incentives that made these drugs a reality. A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2% – 3% of the world’s population is living with hepatitis C. The World Health Organization states that globally an estimated 71 million people have chronic hepatitis C infection and approximately 399,000 people die each year from the disease.

In invalidating the Idenix patent, the Delaware district court effectively overturns what had been the largest award for royalty damages in a U.S. patent infringement case ever handed out. After a two-week trial in December 2016, the jury had awarded Index $2.64 billion in damages, which was based on finding Gilead infringed the Idenix patent – U.S. Patent No. 7,608,597 — by selling the hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatments Harvoni and Sovaldi.

The FDA has been pretty active this year in approving new tests and treatments designed to help identify and eliminate the hepatitis C virus in patients. Swiss healthcare developer Roche (VTX:ROG) received FDA approval this March for a new quantitative RNA test which can help physicians see exactly what level of HCV exists in a patient’s blood instead of simply confirming an active infection. Earlier this year, in late January, the FDA granted approval to Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) for a once-daily single tablet treatment branded as Zepatier. Zepatier is another combination drug therapy which incorporates elbasvir and grazoprevir, both HCV RNA inhibitors, and is designed to treat patients having one of two strains of HCV, including the most common strain. A 12-week regimen of the treatment costs $54,600.

Although not a prolific filer of U.S. patent applications, Gilead does currently holds 2,131 active patent grants according to data collected by Innography… Despite all of the recent focus on Gilead’s anti-viral medications, we noted a trio of patents issued to the company recently by the USPTO to address issues in patient cardiac health. U.S. Patent No. 9056108, issued under the title Method of Treating Atrial Fibrillation, claims a kit containing a first composition which includes dronedarone or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and then a second composition which includes ranolazine. This innovation was found to improve the anti-arrhythmic efficacy of dronedarone, which can be used to treat atrial fibrillation but is poorly tolerated by patients in higher doses.

The early months of 2015 have been interesting ones for the pharmaceutical industry, an incredibly valuable industry sector that comes under our focus from time to time here at IPWatchdog. The first quarter of this calendar year has seen a number of mergers and acquisitions which are showing us that the patent market for pharmaceuticals is quite active right now.…

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), which is headquartered in Whitehouse Station, NJ, and also does business under the name Merck Sharp & Dohme MSD, is one of the world’s largest and most renowned pharmaceutical development companies. The company just made a major acquisition in the middle of December, investing $8.4 billion in the purchase of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a deal which…