J&J ac­cused of de­fraud­ing US Patent Of­fice in an­ti-com­pe­ti­tion law­suit

A group of pay­ers has ac­cused John­son & John­son of de­fraud­ing the US Patent and Trade­mark Of­fice in a scheme to curb Ste­lara com­pe­ti­tion, ac­cord­ing to a law­suit filed last week in Vir­ginia fed­er­al court.

The plain­tiffs, sub­sidiaries of the health in­sur­ance provider Care­First and li­censees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield As­so­ci­a­tion, es­ti­mate that they’ll over­pay more than $1 bil­lion for Ste­lara (ustek­inum­ab) through 2025 be­cause of a lack of biosim­i­lar op­tions.

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