AbbVie Loses Monopoly Protection for Humira After Years of Gaming the U.S. Patent System

January 31, 2023 Press Release

Washington, D.C. — In response to news that pharmaceutical giant AbbVie is losing its monopoly protection for Humira — a crucial anti-inflammatory treatment and highest-grossing drug in the world — six years after its key patent was supposed to expire, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“After years of unfairly shouldering the burden of Humira’s $80,000+ annual price tag to subsidize AbbVie’s exorbitant profits, patients will finally have alternatives,” said Sara Sirota, Policy Analyst at Economic Liberties. “For too long, patients have been stuck with only one option for this crucial drug thanks to the maker’s zealous gaming of the U.S. patent system and relentless litigation strategy against potential competitors.”

Since Humira first entered the market in 2003, AbbVie has used a series of questionable patents to file lawsuits and block entry from biosimilar drugs that should have been available to patients back in 2017. But AbbVie got Amgen, Pfizer, and the other drug makers to delay their entry into the U.S. market until 2023 under licensing and royalty deals, in exchange for allowing them to sell in Europe. The resulting competition in Europe has caused Humira’s price to drop by up to 80% since 2018.

The news today means that Humira must now compete with Amgen’s biosimilar and a slew of other alternatives coming this summer. Whether consumers in the U.S. will enjoy the same price cuts remains to be seen. The terms of AbbVie’s licensing deals with its rivals are under seal. And no one yet knows what kinds of kickbacks AbbVie or one of its biosimilar rivals have offered up to get away with inflated prices. Advocates of a fair and competitive marketplace for anti-inflammatories or any other drugs must should remain vigilant and demand reforms that stop corporations from gambling with patients’ lives.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.