Senators Seek Investigation Into Allergan’s Mohawk Tribe Patent Deal

Four Democratic senators are calling for an investigation into a Native American tribe’s acquisition of four patents from Allergan, saying the deal is a “blatantly anti-competitive” scheme to avoid review of Allergan’s patents and to maintain its high prices.

The deal is “an end-run” around the inter-partes review process, and will hurt patients’ ability to afford drugs if allowed to continue, the senators said in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., urging a Judiciary Committee probe into the arrangement.

The St. Regis Mohawk tribe, which acquired the patents, asked the PTO’s Patent Trial and Appeals Board to dismiss several challenges to the arrangement, claiming the board has no jurisdiction over the tribe as a sovereign nation.