Klobuchar Targets Improper Patent Listings

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has sent letters to six pharmaceutical companies — Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Mylan-Viatris, and Teva — requesting they remove all patents identified by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as improperly or inaccurately listed in FDA’s Orange Book by the end of the month.

Klobuchar says her requests are a follow-up to an 11/2023 action where the FTC sent Warning Letters to 10 drug companies identifying more than 100 patents that the recipients improperly listed in the Orange Book. “A number of pharmaceutical companies have removed these patents from the Orange Book in response to the FTC’s warning letters, but most have failed to act,” she says in a statement. “The FTC found that improperly listing patents in the FDA Orange Book to deter generic competition can violate antitrust laws.”

The full text of the letters can be found here.