this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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Just a datapoint here: The patent expires Dec 6th 2031. After that date is when we would see unlicensed generics.
edit: corrected wrong millenium
At which point they will most likely tweak a minor ingredient or process to evergreen the patent, preventing generics for another few years.
John Green talks about it for J&J’s tuberculosis medication (I recommend the whole video, but if you want the short version, watch the first 30 seconds, and then from 2:20 to 3:00, then 3:45 to 4:15).
In the case above, a bunch of public pressure encouraged J&J to yield, which is excellent, but I have to wonder how many other medications fall under the same umbrella and how many people needlessly suffer or die because of a lack of access to medication that can be produced at a low cost and could be affordable.
Anyway, that’s beside the point, which is that it appears that the patent system can evidently be gamed, and the expiry date may not manifest the effect that it should have in the way that it should.
Standard stuff - fuck Jazz Pharma for doing exactly that - but one only has to convince one doctor to ignore the sales reps and write for the new generic.