Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 16d

The scheme, known as a “product hop”, will effectively allow Merck to restart its patent monopoly on Keytruda just as the 20-year monopoly on the IV version comes to an end. This is blatant abuse of the U.S. patent system.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/h...

A New Shot for Cancer Is Convenient, but Poised to Keep Prices High

www.nytimes.com

1 2

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 16d

Merck is launching a patent-protected injectable version of Keytruda before biosimilars of the IV version of Keytruda enter the market.

Swipe to see reactions to the recent @nytimes.com story on Merck's product hopping scheme.

1 1 1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 16d

“Merck is just the latest in a long line of drug companies that have introduced new versions of their medicines that allow them to keep charging high prices [to patients] even as their original patents expire.”
www.seattletimes.com/nation-world...

A new shot for cancer is convenient, but poised to keep prices high

To keep Keytruda revenue flowing, Merck developed a new version of the cancer treatment drug, given as a shot under the skin, which the FDA approved Friday.

www.seattletimes.com

2 5

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 21d

1️⃣ Read The New York Time’s new investigation into Merck’s product hop on Keytruda.

2️⃣ Watch the video be published back in May detailing exactly how Merck is doing it.

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · May 20

Merck is changing the way Keytruda is delivered, from an IV infusion to a subcutaneous injection, so it can thwart biosimilar competition and continue price gouging people with cancer.

It's a tactic known as “product hopping" and it's a form of patent abuse. Here’s how it works.

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 21d

@nytimes.com investigates Merck’s product hop on the cancer drug Keytruda.

“Merck has sought nearly 300 patents related to Keytruda, according to I-MAK. (Merck disputed I-MAK’s count but declined to provide a different figure.)"
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/h...

A New Shot for Cancer Is Convenient, but Poised to Keep Prices High

www.nytimes.com

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 21d

🚨BREAKING: The New York Times investigates Merck’s product hop on Keytruda.

Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 21d

My team at @imakglobal.bsky.social has been warning for years that Merck would game the patent system to product hop its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. Today, the New York Times published an investigation into the company’s tactics.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/h...

A New Shot for Cancer Is Convenient, but Poised to Keep Prices High

www.nytimes.com

1

Reposted by Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge

Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 21d

We have extensive data detailing Merck’s patenting tactics on Keytruda. I will share more here soon.

1 1

Reposted by Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge

Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 21d

My team at @imakglobal.bsky.social has been warning for years that Merck would game the patent system to product hop its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. Today, the New York Times published an investigation into the company’s tactics.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/h...

A New Shot for Cancer Is Convenient, but Poised to Keep Prices High

www.nytimes.com

1 2 2

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 22d

Our September newsletter is out! In it, @tahiramin.bsky.social breaks down two bipartisan bills seeking to address patent abuse so medicines can be more affordable for patients

📄The ETHIC Act
📄The Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act

www.i-mak.org/2025/09/18/s...

Sept 2025: Two bipartisan bills target patent abuse

Building a more just and equitable medicines system for all

www.i-mak.org

1 1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Sep 5

Their findings are consistent with what @imakglobal.bsky.social uncovered in our two recently-published reports, “The Burden of Patent Thickets” and “Overpatented, Overpriced 2025.”

→ www.i-mak.org/burden-of-pa...
→ www.i-mak.org/overpatented/

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Sep 5

A new study in @jama.com by Dongzhe Hong, @seansst5.bsky.social‬, and Reed F. Beall looks at the cost of extended market exclusivities due to patent term extensions and patent gaming.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Estimating Costs of Market Exclusivity Extensions For 4 Top-Selling Prescription Drugs in the US

This cross-sectional study estimates excess US spending associated with delays in generic competition due to extended market exclusivity for 4 top-selling brand-name drugs that experienced new generic...

jamanetwork.com

1

Reposted by Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge

Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 27

“History will not remember how profitable our cures were, only how many were left to die waiting for them.”

- Jonathan Lee, B.A., B.S., UC Berkeley
www.bcphreview.org/article/1412...

The Price of Survival: Ethical Failures and Pharmaceutical Profit in the U.S. Drug Market | Published in Boston Congress of Public Health Review (BCPHR, Formerly HPHR)

By Jonathan Lee. The authors call for reforms of the U.S. drug market, calling for changes in price negotiation, transparency, and patent law. They argue the proposed measures support public health.

www.bcphreview.org

1 4

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 27

MedPath unpacked key findings from our latest Overpatented, Overpriced report.

📊Read our report: www.i-mak.org/overpatented/
📄Read MedPath's analysis: trial.medpath.com/news/1926871...

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

AbbVie’s strategy is simple: threaten competitors with drawn-out patent lawsuits to force settlement agreements that keep them off the market, all while charging sky-high prices to cancer patients.

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Over the six years competitors are delayed, Americans will spend $8 BILLION on AbbVie’s branded Imbruvica.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Keeping that many competitors off the market is big business.

An FDA study found that when there are six or more generic competitors on the market, drug prices drop more than 95%.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Zydus isn’t the only competitor AbbVie bullied off the market.

Five other drug companies signed settlement agreements to delay their generic versions of Imbruvica.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Patent lawsuits can cost millions of dollars and drag on for years. Rather than face a costly legal battle against AbbVie, Zydus signed a settlement agreement to delay the launch of its generic until 2032.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

When the drug company Zydus began seeking FDA approval for a generic version of Imbruvica, AbbVie asserted 18 of their 98 patents against them.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

AbbVie has amassed 98 patents on Imbruvica, and is using them to bully competitors into signing settlement agreements to keep generic Imbruvica off the market.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

The patent covering Imbruvica’s main compound is set to expire in 2026. When that happens, competitors *should* be able to enter the market. But that’s not what’s happening.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Imbruvica is a life-saving cancer drug marketed by AbbVie.

Its list price has climbed to $220,000 a year.

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 14

AbbVie used its patent thicket to block six competitors from launching cheaper versions of a $220,000 cancer drug.

1 2 4

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 13

SEN. BLUMENTHAL: Do all of you agree that reforms in the patent laws would enable lower costs for consumers?

…Yes

…Yes

…Yes

…Yes

1

Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Aug 12

However, the real change begins when we get to the root of the problem and address the kind of patents that are being granted in the first place.