Drug Makers Play the Patent Game to Lock in Prices, Block Competitors
(WorldNews Health)

David Herzberg was alarmed when he heard that Richard Sackler, former chairman of opioid giant Purdue Pharma, was listed as an inventor on a new patent for an opioid addiction treatment. Patent No. is for a fast-dissolving wafer containing buprenorphine, a generic drug that has been around since the 1970s. Herzberg, a historian who focuses on the opioid epidemic and the history of prescription drugs, said he fears the patent could keep prices high and make it more difficult for poor people with addiction to get treatment. `It´s hard not to have that reaction of, like ... these vultures,` said Herzberg, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo. James Doyle, vice president and general...