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The Humira patent thicket, the Noerr–Pennington doctrine and antitrust’s patent problem

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A recent federal appellate court decision will make challenging future pharmaceutical ‘patent thickets’ an uphill battle.

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References

  1. US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform. Drug Pricing Investigation. AbbVie — Humira and Imbruvica, https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Committee%20on%20Oversight%20and%20Reform%20-%20AbbVie%20Staff%20Report.pdf (2021).

  2. In re: Humira (Adalimumab) Antitrust Litigation, 465 F. Supp. 3d 811 (N.D. Ill., 2020).

  3. Eastern Railroad Presidents v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc., 395 U.S. 127 (1961).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard-MIT Center for Regulatory Science, Boston, MA, USA

    Ryan Knox

  2. JAMA, Chicago, IL, USA

    Gregory Curfman

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  1. Ryan Knox
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  2. Gregory Curfman
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Correspondence to Gregory Curfman.

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Knox, R., Curfman, G. The Humira patent thicket, the Noerr–Pennington doctrine and antitrust’s patent problem. Nat Biotechnol 40, 1761–1763 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01583-w

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