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...

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.

“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...

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.

When facts are not on your side, desperation sets in 🙃

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...

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...

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...

“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...

A powerful indictment of America’s pharmaceutical system from a next-generation leader. Excellent work, Jonathan Lee. www.bcphreview.org/article/1412...

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.

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.🧵

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

Patent reform. An issue with growing bipartisan support.

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?🧵

In a recent FTC listening session, Hans Sauer of BIO suggested that pharma execs don’t coordinate with lawyers to strategically use patents to block competition. I guess he forgot about the Congressional investigation exposing how AbbVie hired McKinsey to do exactly that.

Amgen designs around one of Regeneron’s key patents to develop an Eylea biosimilar. Regeneron sues to keep Amgen off the market. Loses. Files a new patent with tweaked language to block Amgen’s workaround. And sues again. This is “innovation”. www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

A special thanks to Tahir Amin for joining The Plus SideZ Podcast to explain how the patent system affects the price of GLP-1s. Education is power! #glp1 @mcuban.bsky.social

Thank you to The Plus SideZ podcast for having me on to talk about the patent system and how the pharma industry’s abuse of it keeps GLP-1 prices so high.

💊 How does the U.S. patent system shape drug prices? And who profits? Join us Tuesday, July 22 at 11:00 a.m. EDT for more on these topics with @tahiramin.bsky.social, co-founder and CEO of @imakglobal.bsky.social. 🔗 RSVP: attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/522...

This is a great opportunity to spend a day learning about drug pricing. I’ll be discussing the patent system’s impact on pricing and access, and sharing some of @imakglobal.bsky.social's latest research on GLP-1s.

A patent-maximalist “think tank” run by revolving door insiders graded members of Congress on how “pro-IP” they are. A creative way to let PhRMA and other lobbyists know which members they should grease to continue financialising the IP system.

TAHIR AMIN (@tahiramin.bsky.social): Novo Nordisk spends more on buying back shares and paying off its shareholders than it does on R&D…This idea that [pharma companies] need to charge higher prices so they can do the R&D is actually not entirely true.

TAHIR AMIN (@tahiramin.bsky.social): I think progress is being made [on drug pricing and patent reform]...Not quick enough…We need to get further upstream to the root of the problem…It’s starting with the drug companies and how they use the patent system. That is what gives them the power.

“We want to expose how the patent system has become a tool to drive the business model and financial gain…It’s a corruption of the patent system” @tahiramin.bsky.social walks through our new Overpatented, Overpriced report with @levernews.com www.levernews.com/drugmakers-s...

Big drugmakers are abusing the drug patent process to generate extra revenue at the cost of patients, according to a new report. www.levernews.com/drugmakers-s...

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.

🚨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.

Former solicitor of the USPTO Thomas Krause sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s a critical indictment of a patent system that has lost the ability to distinguish between invention and exploitation.🧵

Btw, Merck is using the PTAB, a mechanism to review wrongly-granted patents, to challenge Halozyme’s patents. Ironically, PhRMA, where Merck is a long-standing member, is lobbying to pass the PREVAIL Act to gut that very mechanism.

*One* of the reasons Merck is product hopping Keytruda is to dodge Medicare negotiations. Looks like CMS may close the loophole they planned to exploit. Good. www.barrons.com/articles/mer...

An internal Celgene presentation from 2014. Celgene’s primary patent on Revlimd expired in 2019. Despite that, Celgene estimated it had a 65% chance of extending its Revlimid monopoly in the U.S. until 2026.

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.

Eliquis is a blood thinner that is marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb. It carries a list price of over $7,000 per year. We investigated the patenting strategies around Eliquis. Here's what we found: 📄 43 patent applications have been filed 📄 22 patents have been granted

Good breakdown of Trump’s EO on drug pricing www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

This is where the WH should focus. Prevent pharma from gaming the patent system → restore competition in the industry → drive down drug prices

Between 2020-2024, Novo Nordisk spent 41% more on shareholder enrichment (buybacks and dividends) than it did on R&D.

I have written many healthcare stories, but never before have I written about my own health. I decided to do so after learning one of my drugs costs nearly $1,000 a pill and just 25 cents to make. What I found was an incredible story of discovery and exploitation. www.propublica.org/article/revl...

One of the most thorough pieces I’ve read on BMS/Celgene’s financialised business model and the specific ways it abused the patent system to monopolize Revlimid. Excellent reporting by @davidarmstrongx.bsky.social @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/revl...

PhRMA lobbyists and industry loyalists are will say Merck is “iNnOvAtInG” Keytruda for patients. If you want to know the real reason they're product hopping Keytruda just listen to what Merck’s CEO and analysts tell investors.

This is a financialised business model hiding behind the language of "innovation".

Our new @imakglobal.bsky.social brief focuses on the GLP-1 drug market because it offers one of the most concerning examples of how financialization is driving pharmaceutical companies to abuse the patent system.

NEW: @novonordisk.bsky.social & @elilillyandcompany.bsky.social are using dense clusters of patents to extend monopolies on blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs including #Ozempic, #Wegovy, & #Mounjaro, fueling high prices and health inequities, according to an @imakglobal.bsky.social report.

🚨NEW: Our new brief exposes how Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly's financialized business model drives them to abuse the patent system to monopolize the lucrative GLP-1 drug market. Read the brief: www.i-mak.org/glp-1/

Five bills addressing the pharmaceutical industry’s patent abuse passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.🧵

Biktarvy is a once-daily HIV treatment marketed by Gilead. At $140.53 per tablet, the list price for a 30-day supply is over $4,200. We investigated the patenting strategies around Biktarvy. Here's what we found: 📄 73 patent applications have been filed 📄 44 patents have been granted

Remember this the next time a pharma lobbyist tells you Merck is fast-tracking its subcutaneous Keytruda purely because it wants to give cancer patients a faster/easier treatment option. www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Keytruda is a cancer drug that Merck (MSD in the UK) costs $200,000. It was developed with tax-payer dollars and its patent expires soon. Rather than allow generics at lower prices, Merck is moving to stop generics through product hopping, patent thicketing and other underhand tactics. Shame.

The FTC published 4 reports on patent settlements and, for the first time, highlighted volume restrictions. Volume restrictions are another way branded pharma companies restrict competition. Example: Celgene/Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) patent settlement for Revlimid. 🧵

Regulation works. thecapitolforum.com/teva-inhaler...