The manufacturer of a rival blood-thinner to the generic heparin is trying to overcome what The New York Times Friday called “one of the costliest blunders in drug industry history.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/business/19patent.html
The Times story, headlined “A Company Races to Keep a Drug Patent,” describes the predicament of Parsippany, N.J.-based Medicines Co., which makes the blood thinner Angiomax.
In a clerical error that should have cost someone his or her job, Medicines back in 2001 missed a deadline to apply for a patient extension for Angiomax. So now that patent is set to expire next Tuesday, instead of in December 2014. That means generic versions of the drug will be able to come to market.
The drug maker has filed several appeals with patent officials over its goof, unsuccessfully. But Tuesday a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must reconsider its denial of Medicines’ 2001 filing.
The Times’ story outlines all of Medicines’ machinations to retain its patent on Angiomax. And that includes a convoluted argument by Medicines’ about its blood thinner versus heparin.
The drug makers has studies that maintain that it would save the health care system billions of dollars over the next two decades if Angiomax retains its patent.
Medicines argues that a continued patent would mean more promotion for Angiomax, and possibly new uses for it, according to The Times. So its use would increase at the expense of its main competitor, generic heparin.
Yet Angiomax is much pricier than heparin, at more than $600 a patient, versus pennies for heparin.
“But Medicines argues that Angiomax is actually cheaper for the health care system overall than heparin, partly because it causes less bleeding, a serious and costly side effect,” The Times writes.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
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