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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin
@tahiramin.bsky.social
1.3K followers 160 following 200 posts
CEO @imakglobal.bsky.social. Renegade IP lawyer. Critically rethinking IP laws through (neo)colonial/neoliberal systems of power, and that empty word “innovation”.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Jun 17
Our team at @imakglobal.bsky.social just released two new products. What we’re seeing is a patent system that is giving drug companies far too many ways to extend their monopolies and maximize profits while utterly failing to uphold the social contract it was meant to serve.
imakglobal.bsky.social
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Jun 17
🚨NEW: Today we published a new Overpatented, Overpriced report and launched an expanded and updated version of The Drug Patent Book, our searchable database of every patent we've uncovered on many of the most widely-used drugs in the U.S.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 3d
Subcutaneous versions of IV drugs often launch right around the time that IV patents expire. What a mysterious phenomenon…
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 13d
Merck has made billions off patients who take Keytruda. Now, just as its primary patents are about to expire (in 2028) Merck tweaks Keytruda's delivery and gets to restart its monopoly all over again.
www.biospace.com/fda/as-exclu...
As Exclusivity Loss Looms, Merck Wins Subcutaneous Approval for Keytruda
For the last two years, Keytruda has reigned as the world’s top-selling drug—a distinction under threat with key patent protections expiring in 2028.
www.biospace.com
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Reposted by Tahir Amin
imakglobal.bsky.social
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 15d
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.
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Reposted by Tahir Amin
imakglobal.bsky.social
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 15d
“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
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 15d
The patents protecting Keytruda’s key ingredients were filed in 2008 and expire in 2028. Now Merck is changing the way Keytruda is delivered (from an IV to an injection) to effectively restart its monopoly just as it's about to end.
annecronin.bsky.social
Anne Cronin @annecronin.bsky.social · 20d
Big news for a blockbuster drug -- Merck won approval for an easier-to-use Keytruda. Damian Garde has the details >
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Merck Wins US Approval of Easier-to-Use Version of Cancer Drug Keytruda
Merck & Co. won US approval for a novel version of its widely used cancer drug Keytruda that’s faster to give, a key component of the marketing strategy for one of the world’s best-selling medicin...
www.bloomberg.com
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 20d
When facts are not on your side, desperation sets in 🙃
tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 20d
We have extensive data detailing Merck’s patenting tactics on Keytruda. I will share more here soon.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · 20d
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
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Reposted by Tahir Amin
imakglobal.bsky.social
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · 21d
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
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 29
Excellent piece in @nature.com on biologics platform patents and how they can stall/block biosimilars by Osmat Azzam Jefferson, W. Nicholson Price II, @seansst5.bsky.social, Saurabh Vishnubhakat, and Arti Rai.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The puzzle of biologics manufacturing platform patents - Nature Biotechnology
The predominance of manufacturing process patents asserted in litigation by originator biologics companies against would-be biosimilar entrants has resulted in a number of Congressional and administra...
www.nature.com
tahiramin.bsky.social
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
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 27
🎯“Moreover, the rhetoric of innovation is frequently weaponized to resist regulation, even as many so-called innovations yield minimal therapeutic gains.”
tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 27
A powerful indictment of America’s pharmaceutical system from a next-generation leader. Excellent work, Jonathan Lee.
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
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
From dodging domestic taxes to abusing the patent system to price gouging patients in the U.S and abroad. The list is endless. No one is better at ripping off the public than multinational pharma companies.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
I’d encourage the panel to review it during their session and deal with evidence-based facts rather than industry-based evidence-making.
tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
In June, we added 10 new products to the database: Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, Farxiga, Entresto, Jardiance, Januvia, and Xarelto. It now covers 20 products and 1,219 related patents we’ve identified.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
The real data behind drug patent portfolios has been sitting in our public database for anyone to explore and comment on since Sep 2022.
drugpatentbook.i-mak.org
The Drug Patent Book | I-MAK
Better Information, Better Decisions. We deserve transparency and access to the information about the drug patents impacting Americans and their healthcare. Lack of critical data on patents prevents l...
drugpatentbook.i-mak.org
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
The three speakers on this IP Watchdog panel, one of whom is the Head of IP Policy at Amgen, will supposedly “walk through the real data behind drug patent portfolios”. Spoiler alert: they won’t.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
The campaign to discredit I-MAK has been going on for years now. It includes a pseudo-study from the Hudson Institute and ongoing mischaracterization of a PTO report that was published in response to pressure from Sen. Tillis (who is one of the top recipients of pharma cash).
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Aug 20
PhRMA is teaming up with other industry mouthpieces including IP Watchdog and IP law firms to host a panel smearing I-MAK. I guess branded drug companies don’t like having their go-to monopolization tactics exposed.🧵
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Reposted by Tahir Amin
imakglobal.bsky.social
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.
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Jul 29
Patent reform. An issue with growing bipartisan support.
Reposted by Tahir Amin
imakglobal.bsky.social
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @imakglobal.bsky.social · Jul 28
NEWS: Senators @welch.senate.gov (D-VT), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and @klobuchar.senate.gov (D-MN) introduced the Eliminating Thickets to Improve Competition (ETHIC) Act.

So, what is the ETHIC Act?🧵
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Jul 23
McKinsey presentation: www.documentcloud.org/documents/21...

House Oversight report (pages 88-90): oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
AbbVie
www.documentcloud.org
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tahiramin.bsky.social
Tahir Amin @tahiramin.bsky.social · Jul 23
AbbVie offered technical employees iPhones, iPads, and Apple computers as rewards for coming up with new ideas to "increase the patent coverage for Humira."
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