Biogen's blockbuster drug Tecfidera is on the hot seat after federal patent judges ruled today that competing drug maker Mylan "demonstrated a reasonable likelihood" that one of the drug's main patents can be thrown out.
Why it matters: Biogen has faced a lot of patent challenges over Tecfidera, a pricey multiple sclerosis drug that registered $4.3 billion in sales in 2018. But if the board's final decision next year invalidates the Tecfidera patent in question, cheaper generic versions of the drug could hit the market as soon as 2021 instead of 2028.
President Trump wants Congress' help enacting his agenda on drug pricing, but members of Congress aren’t sure yet whether they want to provide it.
Driving the news: "I am asking the Congress to pass legislation that finally takes on the problem of global freeloading and delivers fairness and price transparency for American patients," Trump said last night. "We should also require drug companies, insurance companies, and hospitals to disclose real prices to foster competition and bring costs down."
The big picture: So much for that. The two organizations did not immediately respond to questions about why they called off their merger. But don't expect hospital mergers to slow down in the near term.
Hospitals are very expensive and they keep getting more expensive, very quickly.
Driving the news: Hospital fees are rising much faster than doctors' fees, and hospitals are driving almost all of the price increases for certain common procedures, according to a new study published in Health Affairs.
Over the past 4 years, the product that generated the most sales for Pfizer wasn't one of its household names, like Lyrica, Lipitor or Viagra. It was Prevnar 13, a vaccine that protects against pneumonia and other infections.
The bottom line: Pfizer has collected $23.4 billion in Prevnar 13 sales since 2015, including $5.8 billion last year. The pharmaceutical giant got a big revenue boost in 2015, after the federal government recommended the vaccine for people older than 65 and required insurance to cover it.
