June 20, 2025
TOPLINE
In case you missed it, the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge (I-MAK) released the latest installment of the organization’s “Overpatented, Overpriced” series, analyzing Big Pharma’s egregious abuse of the U.S. patent system and how these anti-competitive strategies keep prescription drug prices high.
The report highlights how Big Pharma giant Novo Nordisk has become a particular new poster child for the egregious anti-competitive pharmaceutical industry practice of patent-thicketing, filing “320 U.S. patent applications related to its three products, Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy, which all use the same active ingredient—semaglutide.”
Novo Nordisk’s most recently secured patent will help the big drug company undermine competition to these products for an additional five years through 2031, despite the primary patent on semaglutide expiring in 2026. During that extended window, I-MAK estimates Novo Nordisk will earn an estimated $166 billion from Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy.
Congress should build on strong bipartisan support for market-based solutions, like Cornyn-Blumenthal, that will hold Big Pharma accountable for egregious abuse of the patent system and help foster greater competition to lower drug prices for American patients. Read more on top takeaways from the I-MAK report HERE and access the full report HERE.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“As Secretary Kennedy has consistently emphasized, direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising must prioritize accuracy, patient safety, and the public interest — not profit margins. [The department is] exploring ways to restore more rigorous oversight and improve the quality of information presented to American consumers.”
Andrew Nixon, Spokesperson, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
DATA POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
320
The number of patent applications filed by Novo Nordisk on its blockbuster GLP-1 brand name drugs Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, that all rely on the same active ingredient, according to a report from Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK).
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
@IMAKglobal: “NEW: Today we published a new Overpatented, Overpriced report and launched an expanded and updated version of The Drug Patent Book, our searchable database of every patent we've uncovered on many of the most widely-used drugs in the U.S.”
@RSI: “Pharmaceutical companies routinely employ tactics to maintain artificially high prices long after their original patents expire. If the president is interested in reducing drug prices, patent abuse must also be addressed.”
ROAD TO RECOVERY
The Pharma Letter: Senate Drops Orphan Drug Bill Amendment Opposed By Patient Advocates
A controversial proposal to change the Inflation Reduction Act’s pricing framework for rare disease drugs has been dropped from the Senate’s reconciliation package, marking a win for patient advocacy groups that lobbied against it. The ORPHAN Cures Act, which sought to shield some rare disease drugs from Medicare price talks, was notably absent from the text released this week by the Senate Finance Committee. Patients for Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADNow), a Washington-based nonprofit, welcomed the omission, characterizing it as a patient-led victory over what it called industry-friendly legislation.
PHARMA’S POOR PROGNOSIS
UChicago Medicine: Are GLP-1 Drugs Worth Their Current Cost?
Medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide (known by commercial names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro) that target GLP-1 receptors have revolutionized the treatment of diabetes and, offering dramatic weight loss and surprising benefits for other chronic conditions. But they come at a steep cost, and public health experts and health economists are raising a fundamental question: are these drugs really worth what we’re paying? Two new studies led by researchers at the University of Chicago found that although GLP-1 drugs deliver impressive long-term health improvements, their current prices far exceed accepted thresholds for cost-effectiveness, posing difficult choices for policymakers, insurers and patients.
The Lever: Drugmakers’ Secret Weapon To Keep Your Meds Overpriced
Pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of the drug patent system to keep prices of essential medications high, according to a new report — and that includes blockbuster weight-loss drugs and other expensive medications set for government price negotiations this year. The new findings illustrate how drugmakers file dozens of patents to cover minor modifications in the same drug in order to extend their market exclusivity, delaying the entry of cheaper generic medications and generating billions of dollars in extra revenue.
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