STAT Plus: Judge rules AbbVie didn’t unfairly thwart Humira competition with its ‘patent thicket’

In a victory for AbbVie (ABBV), a U.S. federal judge ruled the drug maker did not unfairly thwart competition by striking deals with other companies that resolved patent lawsuits, but also resulted in delaying lower-cost biosimilar versions of its Humira medicine for several years.

A lawsuit filed last year by unions, insurers and the city of Baltimore alleged that AbbVie “abused the patent system” and “erected significant barriers to entry to block biosimilar competition” by filing dozens of patents for Humira, its franchise product. Some of the more than 100 Humira patents — sometimes described as a “patent thicket” — extend