April 28, 2025
TOPLINE
In case you missed it, a new report from the Initiative for Medicine, Access and Knowledge (I-MAK) highlights how Big Pharma giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are gaming the U.S. patent system to extend monopolies and keep prices high on blockbuster GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Novo Nordisk has filed 320 U.S. patent applications, with 154 being granted for semaglutide, the same active ingredient in Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy. The report found that “the main compound patent for semaglutide as used in the three drugs was set to expire in March 2026, it said, but regulatory extensions have lengthened Novo’s exclusivity until December 2031.” I-MAK estimates that this five-year period will grant Novo Nordisk an additional $166 billion.
The report also found, “Eli Lilly has filed 53 U.S. patent applications and been granted 16 patents,” on its two blockbuster GLP-1 products, Mounjaro and Zepbound, which also rely on the same active ingredient.
And while gaming the patent system to block competition and extend monopolies, these Big Pharma giants are also prioritizing profits over research and development (R&D). For example, Novo Nordisk has spent 41 percent more on dividends and buybacks than R&D, according to the report.
Read the full report from I-MAK HERE and read more about Big Pharma’s patent abuse HERE. Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“By leveraging patent thickets aimed at extending the market monopolies on their blockbuster drugs, these companies seek to maximize revenue streams while delaying the entry of low-cost generic alternatives. And where does all that revenue go? More was spent by Novo Nordisk on shareholder enrichment in the form of stock buybacks and dividends than on R&D, a hallmark of the financialized pharmaceutical business model. “
- Tahir Amin, CEO, Initiative for Medicine, Access and Knowledge (I-MAK)
DATA POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
41%
The amount Novo Nordisk spent on dividends and buybacks compared to research and development over the past five years, according to an analysis from I-IMAK.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
@FiercePharma: “TV drug ad spending continues upward climb, logging nearly 30% growth in Q1 https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/tv-drug-ad-spending-continues-upward-climb-logging-nearly-30-growth-q1”
@P4ADNOW: “Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a slate of bipartisan, pro-competition bills aimed at cracking down on patent abuses and lowering drug prices. This vote marks a significant step forward to enacting reforms that deliver relief to patients and taxpayers.”
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Reuters: Trump Looking At Cutting US Drug Prices To International Levels, Sources Say
Drugmakers have been warned that the Trump Administration is considering linking U.S. medicine prices to lower amounts paid by other developed countries, according to two company sources who called the option the pharmaceutical industry's top concern. Both sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said they expected the policy to come from the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid health programs.
The National Law Review: New Rx for High Drug Prices? Senate Judiciary Committee Advances Six Bills With Heavy Dose of Options
The US Senate Judiciary Committee advanced to the full Senate six bills intended to reduce pharmaceutical prices and enhance market competitiveness… The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, if passed, would limit how many patents a reference product sponsor can assert in a Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) litigation against a biosimilar applicant, although such limits could be surpassed with court approval. A biologics license holder could assert up to 20 patents in a BPCIA case. Certain patents, such as method of treatment patents, would fall outside the limitation.
AJMC | The Center for Biosimilars: Addressing Patent Abuse, Reimbursement Models Key To Sustainable Biosimilar Market
Streamlining regulatory processes, addressing patent abuse, and evolving reimbursement models to ensure sustainability can help overcome barriers and expand biosimilars into new therapeutic areas, according to Sonia T. Oskouei, PharmD, vice president of biosimilars and specialty at Sandoz… Patent thickets and anticompetitive tactics by originator companies delay biosimilar entry, prioritizing profits over patients, Oskouei said, which remains another challenge of patent abuse. Policy makers can implement legislative or regulatory solutions to stop delay tactics that ultimately limit access to affordable treatments.
PHARMA’S POOR PROGNOSIS
Politico: Once All-Powerful, Pharma’s Allies In Washington Are Fleeting
Big Pharma isn’t sure how to handle Donald Trump’s Republican Party. Trump is pledging to impose tariffs on drug imports, while Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vilified the drug industry’s profits and questioned the safety of its products. Long a lobbying powerhouse in Washington, pharma’s struggling to settle on a strategy for defending itself, according to six industry lobbyists and three company officials who spoke to POLITICO. All were granted anonymity to reveal internal discussions. “It’s just paralyzing. You don’t know what’s going to happen next,” said one of the lobbyists. The industry’s plight marks a remarkable turn, given how close it once was with Republicans, and shows how Trump has upended alliances that were once a bedrock of the GOP.
Fierce Pharma: TV Drug Ad Spending Continues Upward Climb, Logging Nearly 30% Growth In Q1
Pharma advertisers have kicked off 2025 with a bang, with the top 10 spenders throwing almost 30% more money behind their TV commercials in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Across the first three months of this year, according to iSpot.TV, drugmakers have spent a combined $729.4 million to air commercials for the top 10 brands, up from $567.3 million in the first quarter of 2024. That represents a slight sequential increase, too, growing close to 2% over the $717.4 million outlay from the biggest spenders in the fourth quarter of 2024. The spending spree was helped along by several major broadcast events throughout the period.
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