Washington, D.C. — Following the Federal Trade Commission’s vote to pass a policy statement condemning improper listing of patents in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Orange Book, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Sham Orange Book listings for device patents are a driver of the high costs of many essential medications, such as asthma inhalers and insulin,” said Erik Peinert, Research Manager and Editor at the American Economic Liberties Project. “By listing sham device patents in the FDA Orange Book, pharmaceutical companies are intentionally and anticompetitively gaming the United States’ drug safety system to block other manufacturers from making and selling the same treatments at far lower prices. We strongly support the FTC’s effort to rein in this profiteering and illegal behavior by the pharmaceutical industry, and we’re pleased to see the Commission put forth a policy statement to condemn it as an unfair method of competition.”

Read “The Cost of Pharma Cheating” for more information.

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.