With 10 days to go, only one company has responded to a demand by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for several brand-name drugmakers to delist dozens of patents that were improperly or inaccurately listed in a government registry, according to a source familiar with the matter.
As a result, the agency is readying plans to file lawsuits against the other companies, some of which are among the biggest drugmakers in the world, such as AbbVie, AstraZeneca, and GSK. The FTC notified the companies on Nov. 7 that they must withdraw or amend the patent listings, or an individual must certify under penalty of perjury that the listings comply with federal law and regulations.
The FTC gave the companies until Dec. 16 to withdraw or amend the wayward patent listings, but except for one of the 10 companies to receive the warning, the agency has “heard nothing,” according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The letters were not empty threats. If the companies don’t take action, there will definitely be consequences.”
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