Opinion: The innovation trap: How pharma weaponizes a word to extend monopolies

Sen. John Cornyn: How many patents do you [have?] AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez: … A hundred and thirty-six patents.

Cornyn: A hundred and thirty-six patents on one drug? Gonzalez: But, well, remember, Humira is like nine different drugs, or 10 different drugs.

So — Cornyn: I thought you said to Sen. [Debbie] Stabenow it was the same molecule.

Gonzalez: It is the same molecule, but it treats different conditions. And if you look at that patent portfolio — Cornyn: So you use the same molecule to treat different conditions and you can get a patent on that treatment?

Gonzalez: Certainly. The above exchange comes from a 2019 congressional hearing.

Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, was asking AbbVie’s CEO, Richard Gonzalez, to explain to the Senate Committee on Finance how his company had amassed so many patents on this single drug called Humira.

Gonzalez, who was no stranger to controversy, chose to respond by likening it to multiple drugs.