Court Rules Allergan Can't Use Indian Tribe Deal to Protect Patents

On Friday, a U.S. appeals court ruled against a deal Allergan PLC made in September with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe to shield its patterns under the principle of sovereign immunity. Hoping to protect the patents for its blockbuster dry eye drug Restasis from challenges filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by several generic drug companies, including Mylan N.V. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Allergan sold six of the patents to the tribe for $15 million a year and an upfront payment of $13.75 million. Restasis netted Allergan $1.5 billion in sales in 2017, around 9% of its annual revenues.