Are US Drug Companies Slowing Release Of Generic Drugs?

An article regarding claims that US drug companies are holding off releasing around 43% of new generic drugs.

https://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OfficeofMedicalProductsandTobacco/CDER/ucm129385.htm

Whilst it is a US article, it would have flow-on effects on drug prices in Australia.

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One wonders how much truth is behind the ‘Big Pharma’ discussion that appears regularly - there are a lot of conspiracy theories, and I must admit I love a good conspiracy theory, but when articles like this one appear one really wonders …

Sorrento Therapeutics has accused billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong of acquiring a cancer drug that would have competed with the blockbuster drug he invented and preventing it from ever reaching the market, according to a civil complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday.

In 2015 NantPharma, a subsidiary in Soon-Shiong’s network of Nant companies, acquired the rights to the cancer drug Cynviloq from Sorrento Therapeutics with a $90 million up-front cash payment and agreed to pay an additional $1.2 billion if certain regulatory milestones were reached. At the time Cynviloq was undergoing multiple clinical trials to determine its bioequivalence to Abraxane, a cancer drug Soon-Shiong invented. In 2010 Soon-Shiong had sold the manufacturer of Abraxane, Abraxis, to Celgene in a $4.5 billion stock and cash deal.

Sorrento’s lawsuit alleges that Soon-Shiong engaged in a “catch and kill” scheme, buying the rights to the drug but then halting the process of bringing Cynviloq to market, thereby keeping competition for Abraxane at bay. Sorrento’s complaint states that Soon-Shiong did not pursue relevant FDA approvals, let “critical patents lapse” and “demonstrated zero interest in reaching the approvals the parties had agreed upon in their sale agreement.”

While Soon-Shiong no longer owned Abraxane at the time of the Cynviloq acquisition, he was still Celgene’s largest individual stockholder. A new competitor in the market would have been “financially devastating” to Soon-Shiong, the lawsuit alleges.

… He might be quick to settle the question with the good reasons he did this - after all, he is a ‘philanthropist’ …

The full intro on the relevant wiki page on him reads;

Patrick Soon-Shiong (Chinese: 黃馨祥; pinyin: Huáng Xīnxiáng , Mandarin pronunciation: [xu̯ɑ̌ŋ ɕín ɕi̯ɑ̌ŋ]; born July 29, 1952) is a South African-born Chinese American surgeon, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is chair of NantWorks, LLC,[2] executive director of the Wireless Health Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, and an adjunct professor of surgery at UCLA.[3][4][ self-published source? ] He is chair of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, and chair and CEO of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Advanced Health, National LambdaRail (which ceased to exist in 2014), and the Healthcare Transformation Institute.[2] Soon-Shiong has been a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers since 2010. Since 2018, he has been the owner of the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune .[5] In April 2016, the Los Angeles Times reported him to be one of the highest-paid CEOs for 2015.[6] As of November 2016, Soon-Shiong was estimated by Forbes as having a net worth of US$9 billion, ranking him #47 among US billionaires. As of December 2016, he has 92 US and 138 international patents.[1]

… a cynic could potentially contend that he might appear to have his bases covered …

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Another great example of why I love the Australian healthcare system, compared to the US healthcare system.

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