Amgen’s Patent Thicket Strategy Yields Billions in Drug Sales for TNF Inhibitor Enbrel

Amgen has employed a powerful strategy to maintain its monopoly on Enbrel, a drug that targets tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and improves outcomes in patients with autoimmune disease. Its patent thicket approach to this and other successful drugs, despite leading to billion-dollar sales, has also drawn immense criticism from advocates of drug pricing controls.

“The biotech company has earned more than $70 billion from sales of Enbrel. Patents protecting it will keep copycat competition at bay until 2029.” Read more here.

(Source: Jonathan Gardner, BioPharma Dive, 11/1/21)