Allergan hasn’t given up on that whole tribal thing

You may recall Allergan’s attempt to extend its drug patents by transferring them to a Native American tribe as a pharmaceutical blemish that damaged the company’s reputation. But Allergan sees the move — and its trouble in court — as unfinished business.

As STAT’s Ed Silverman reports, the company is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which now holds rights to Allergan’s eye drug Restasis, is immune to a certain kind of patent challenge. Allergan engineered its tribal transfer to protect itself from generics companies, but the Patent Board, backed up by a federal appeals court, ruled that the Mohawk were subject to the same rules that govern drug companies.

That left Allergan with a bruised brand and nothing to show for it. Now the company hopes the nation’s highest court can at least resolve its patent problem.

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