How a 'Public Benefit' Pharma Company Undermines Real Innovation

The US patent system is meant to protect and promote innovation, but loopholes are routinely exploited by large drug makers to block competition.

The case in question is that of Treprostinil, a drug used to treat pulmonary hypertension, a progressive condition in which blood flow between the heart and the lungs deteriorates and eventually leads to heart failure.

For more than 20 years, United Therapeutics has had a monopoly on the market for its injectable version of Remodulin, which was approved by the FDA on May 21, 2002.

But a small biotech called Liquidia Technologies was able to bring to market a dry-powder version of Treprostinil that would more precisely deliver the drug to the source of the disease in the lungs, reducing side effects and toxicity.

Liquidia completed a Phase 3 trial in January 2018 but is still blocked from the market by UTC's patent and litigation strategy.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard oral arguments this month in a patent dispute between Big Pharma giant United Therapeutics and the small biotech attempting to bring a competing product to market for patients living with pulmonary hypertension.

"The United States patent system is meant to protect and promote innovation, but loopholes are routinely exploited by large drug makers to block competition," the Center for Science in the Public Interest writes

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