FTC challenges 'junk' patents held by 10 drugmakers, incl Novo Nordisk's Ozempic

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.

> 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?

It is illegal to use the previous propellant, so they can’t be manufactured anymore.

Where can I read more about this? If that’s true, it seems like a problem of over-regulation, not drug companies being exploitative.

Well, patents are only supposed to be granted if an idea is non-obvious to someone skilled in the field. Replacing an illegal propellant with a legal one should be obvious to anyone in the field, so this patent deserves to be challenged.