Bloomberg Law
July 19, 2019, 8:26 AM UTC

Patent Lawyer Tries Novel Approach to Fight Big Pharma Prices

Valerie Bauman
Valerie Bauman
Reporter

A patent attorney is using the False Claims Act to sue brand-name drug companies over extending their patent protections, potentially carving a new legal path for stopping big-brand drugmakers from keeping generics off the market.

The lawsuit uses a rare legal approach. An outside patent attorney, Zachary Silbersher, is alleging that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries, Janssen Biotech Inc., and Janssen Oncology Inc., fraudulently obtained a “follow-on” patent for their prostate cancer drug, Zytiga. Follow-on patents extend an original patent for the same drug that’s slightly altered or delivered in a different form.

The alleged goal, according to the ...

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