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152 points toomuchtodo | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.275s | source
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akira2501 ◴[] No.40216636[source]
Good.

They patented inhalers for a second time. It's the exact same drug. The only thing that changed was the propellant. It went from R-12 to R-134a. Everyone who had to switch out R-12 from refrigeration to drug manufacturing switched to R-134a. There was absolutely _nothing_ novel about it.

It was _criminal_ to allow them the second patent for just the propellant change. It took generic $5 inhalers off the market and replaced them with $95 inhalers. It was was one of the most corrupt swindles I've ever personally seen.

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RheingoldRiver ◴[] No.40216858[source]
> It took generic $5 inhalers off the market and replaced them with $95 inhalers.

OOTL, what is stopping companies from making generics of the older version & patients just not using the new version?

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1. pessimizer ◴[] No.40217174[source]
A group of pharmaceutical companies that held patents for non-CFC inhalers got together and created the "International Pharmaceutical Aerosol Consortium" to lobby in order to get the generic version banned.