McCaskill Bill Seeks to Close Loophole That Allowed Allergan Deal

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced legislation that would bar patent arrangements like the controversial deal between Allergan and a Native American tribe.

Under the deal, which McCaskill called a “brazen and absurd loophole” that “should be illegal,” the company transferred several of its patents to the St. Regis Mohawk tribe, which then asserted that its sovereign immunity exempted it from an inter partes review challenge from Mylan.

McCaskill’s bill, introduced Oct. 5, would scrap the use of sovereign immunity as a defense in IPR proceedings.