John Cornyn: “last weekend, the New York Times ran a story entitled ``How a Drug Company Made $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent…”

“last weekend, the New York Times ran a story entitled ``How a Drug Company Made $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent System.'' This is an infuriating account of how a pharmaceutical company maintained a monopoly on a popular drug and the impact it has had on patients and taxpayers. The company is AbbVie, and the drug is Humira, one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. It is an anti-inflammatory medication that is commonly used to treat arthritis and other conditions. Despite the fact that Humira has been available for two decades, its first competitor didn't hit the market until earlier this week. That wasn't due to a lack of interest by other companies or an inability to produce the biosimilar that could earn Food and Drug Administration approval. It was because AbbVie used a maze of overlapping patents and an aggressive litigation strategy to stave off any competition. Unsurprisingly, this led to big earnings for the company--$114 billion in revenue since 2016--and it has come at a high cost to patients who rely on this drug to maintain their health. The list price for Humira is more than $80,000 per year, per patient. That is higher than the median household income in Texas. So depending on the patient's insurance, that price could be lowered significantly for the consumer or the patient themselves. A woman in Kentucky said her employer's health insurance plan kept her payments at around $60 a year.…”