Heartening to see @aoc.bsky.social pushing back on the language of "innovation," a term corporations use to dress up what she rightly called "scammy behavior."
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge
@imakglobal.bsky.social
We are a team of lawyers, scientists, and health experts challenging systemic injustice and advocating for health equity in drug development and access.
Pharma companies love to claim that trivial tweaks, like a piece of plastic connecting a cap to an inhaler, are "innovations” because they know they have successfully stripped the U.S. patent system of its ability to distinguish phony “innovations” from real invention.
One of the easiest ways to root out patent abuse is to scrutinize every instance a corporation claims they are "innovating.” It’s code for lifecycle management, i.e. squeezing maximum revenue from existing products while minimizing investment.
Lawmakers and the American public agree: drug patent reform is the critical next step in the fight to end America's drug pricing crisis.
SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY: "Why are we allowing the American people to get the shaft here? Other govts are protecting their citizens from high drug prices but we don't. And we're told constantly, well that's the price of innovation so you're just going to have to suck it up Americans and pay the cost..."
SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY: "The American innovation system when it comes to prescription drugs is not going to do American patients much good if they can't afford their drugs."
SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY: "Let's be clear, the pharma companies are absolutely gaming the patent system in order to keep prices high...I think there's no doubt about that."
NEW: Citing @icij.org's recent #CancerCalculus investigation, U.S. senator questions #Merck over "patent gimmicks" to boost prices for the blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda and delay cheaper generics from entering the market. www.icij.org/investigatio...
Senator questions Merck over patent strategy for blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda - ICIJ
In a letter, Sen. Maggie Hassan cited ICIJ's Cancer Calculus investigation and expressed concerns that the pharma giant is boosting profits at the expense of patients.
icij.org
📣 Join us 📣 16 July 2026. Book Lounge, Cape Town. Featuring:🎙 @tahiramin.bsky.social from @imakglobal.bsky.social
Congress didn't finish investigating AbbVie until after the company had spent years fleecing patients behind Humira's patent thicket. Glad at least one senator is willing to take on Merck now rather than letting more patients suffer because they can't afford a $200K cancer drug.
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge@imakglobal.bsky.social · last mo.BREAKING: Senator Maggie Hassan is pressing Merck for answers over its patenting tactics around the cancer drug Keytruda. www.hassan.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) is on to Merck’s patenting schemes. "If [Merck] won't agree to stop gaming the system this way and artificially pumping up their prices, then we need to take legislative action and meet it head-on."
BREAKING: Senator Maggie Hassan is pressing Merck for answers over its patenting tactics around the cancer drug Keytruda. www.hassan.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
@icij.org Chief Reporter Sydney Freedberg: Patents are the biggest structural driver behind pricing…pricing is the biggest obstacle [to patient access].
First SCOTUS decision is Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma. Jackson has the unanimous opinion for the court reversing the Federal Circuit in the patent case. Amarin loses. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
supremecourt.gov
The Supreme Court's first opinion is a unanimous decision in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin. We will get more opinion(s) and they could come from any justice since Jackson authored this one. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Canada has generic Wegovy. India has generic Wegovy. The U.S. has to wait until 2032. Here's why:
Join us for two upcoming events on occasion of @tahiramin.bsky.social's new co-authored book, Pharma Monopoly! Details below.
A new book by @tahiramin.bsky.social and Rohit Malpani is now available in the U.S. Pharma Monopoly: The Battle for the Future of Medicines examines the origins of outdated patent rules and economic policies that champion monopolies over the public interest. 🔗 www.wiley.com/en-us/Pharma...
This slide is from Definium's recent investor call. It shows how they intend to build a monopoly around a derivative of LSD they've dubbed DT120 ODT despite the active ingredient, LSD, being nearly 90 years old.🧵
“The business model of using patents and the language of innovation to justify prolonged patent monopolies that keep knowledge privatized for longer than necessary is endemic across the pharmaceutical industry” @tahiramin.bsky.social @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/h...
The innovation trap: How pharma weaponizes a word to extend monopolies
“Just because a company invests does not mean it has invented anything novel,” Tahir Amin and Rohit Malpani write in this excerpt from “Pharma Monopoly.”
statnews.com
Pharma Monopoly: The Battle for the Future of Medicines, co-authored with Rohit Malpani, is now on sale in the U.S.
For @marketwatch.com, our CEO @tahiramin.bsky.social explains why Canada, India, and countries across the world are gaining access to low-cost Ozempic and Wegovy generics years before Americans. www.marketwatch.com/story/canada...
Canada and India now have generic Wegovy. Here’s why the U.S. doesn’t.
Over the next year, countries that are home to 40% of the world’s population are set to get access to Ozempic and Wegovy generics that could cost as little as $15 a month.
marketwatch.com
My latest op-ed in @marketwatch.com. 40% of the world will soon have access to Ozempic and Wegovy generics. But not Americans. And we have our Reagan-era drug laws to thank for that. www.marketwatch.com/story/canada...
Canada and India now have generic Wegovy. Here’s why the U.S. doesn’t.
Over the next year, countries that are home to 40% of the world’s population are set to get access to Ozempic and Wegovy generics that could cost as little as $15 a month.
marketwatch.com
Why is the price of the cancer drug Revlimid increasing even though lower-cost generics are on the market? Because Celgene/BMS used a new kind of “pay-for-delay” deal that is harder for regulators to catch: a “limited-volume settlement.”
A new report by @sanders.senate.gov found that drug companies that signed drug pricing deals with President Trump have raised the cost of hundreds of medications and launched new ones at an average price of $353,000 a year. ✍️ Berkeley Lovelace Jr., @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
Drugmakers raised prices on hundreds of drugs despite Trump deals, Senate Democrats report finds
The findings raise questions about whether the administration’s “most favored nation” deals are having a meaningful impact on patients.
nbcnews.com
In 2024, Medicare spent $2.1b on Pomalyst, a cancer drug marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb, to treat just 14,324 beneficiaries. Due to this high spend, Medicare added Pomalyst to its 2nd round of drug price negotiations & successfully lowered the price of a 30-day supply from $21,744 to $8,650.🧵
The #CancerCalculus explores how Merck, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, employed aggressive but legal tactics to increase its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda revenues and make it one of the bestselling ever — at the expense of some patients. bit.ly/4coEq2m
About the Cancer Calculus investigation - ICIJ
How Merck keeps the price of its lifesaving cancer drug, Keytruda, sky-high, locking out patients and squeezing health care systems worldwide.
icij.org
A team of journalists at the @icij.org and 47 media partners in 37 countries just published a yearlong investigation into how Merck built its global Keytruda monopoly.
ICIJ@icij.org · 4mo ago#CancerCalculus: An ICIJ-led collaboration with 47 media partners in 37 countries reveals how Merck & Co. keeps the price of its lifesaving cancer drug Keytruda sky-high, locking out patients and squeezing health care systems worldwide. www.icij.org/investigatio...
Public Citizen’s Peter Maybarduk told ICIJ that pharma created a system of rules to protect drugmakers and ensure wealthy governments protect them “There is a whole architecture underpinning Keytruda and every patented drug where the US government and Europe go to bat for the industry and its rules”
ICIJ@icij.org · 4mo agoThe yearlong investigation by 100+ journalists also sheds new light on the strategies that have allowed Merck to widen Keytruda’s use — even in cases where the benefits are limited and lower dosages may be just as effective. www.icij.org/investigatio...