Federal regulators are challenging patents on 20 brand name drugs, including the blockbuster weight-loss injection Ozempic, in the latest action by the Biden administration targeting industry practices that drive up pharmaceutical prices.
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sent warning letters to 10 drugmakers, taking issue with patents on popular drugs for weight loss, diabetes, asthma and other reparatory conditions. The letters allege that certain patents filed by Novo Nordisk, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and seven other companies are inaccurate or misleading.
Brand-name drugmakers use patents to protect their medicines and stave off cheaper, generic medicines. Most blockbuster drugs are protected by dozens of patents covering various ingredients, manufacturing processes and intellectual property. Generic drugmakers can only launch their own cheaper versions if the patents have expired or are successfully challenged in court.
“By filing bogus patent listings, pharma companies block competition and inflate the cost of prescription drugs, forcing Americans to pay sky-high prices for medicines they rely on,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan, in a statement.
Seems what you are describing is 2 different kinds of medicine and not this:
If 2 medicines have identical active component they are considered compatible here, and the phamacist may give you whichever you prefer. You are always offered the cheapest one. This ought to be the same in USA, anything else is borderline criminal. If the doctor insists on a specific brand, he can make a note of that on the prescription, and you will get that, but that is extremely rare.
I agree what you describe is a real problem too, personally I was once prescribed Cipralex instead of Cipramil, those 2 are near identical.
Cipramil is the new version that the company say “may” have lower risk of side effects, but AFAIK the 2 have identical efficacy and similar side effects. Or at least a research paper made in UK claimed that. Difference is the old one is no longer under patent protection, and a parallel import copy product cost only a tenth what the original and the new one cost. So I asked for the old one out of principle, and got the cheap copy. Despite I don’t really pay much extra for the expensive one, because we are compensated more for more expensive medicine.
This is possible with a wide range of medicine, and should be utilized more to keep cost down, when there is no proven benefit of the newer more expensive medicine.
The wheel that rotates is a difference though, and so you can’t just substitute as the user may need that wheel for something.