Angered by a controversial Allergan patent maneuver, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Thursday introduced a bill that prohibits tribal sovereign immunity from being used to block certain types of patent challenges.
Her move comes after Allergan transferred six patents for its best-selling Restasis eye treatment last month to a Mohawk tribe, which has sovereign immunity and is now attempting to use its status to block patent challenges filed by several generic drug makers.
These types of challenges — which are known as inter partes reviews and are heard by a special patent appeals board, not a court — have frustrated drug makers since coming on the scene five years ago, because they’re easier and faster to file than more conventional lawsuits.
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