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 Drugmaker Allergan Plc made a deal to transfer some of its patents
to a Native American tribe two weeks ago in order to shield them
from review.
McCaskill's response follows a bipartisan U.S. House of
Representatives committee decision to investigate the deal earlier
this week and previous calls by Democratic Senators for a probe.
"Any thinking person would look at what this company did and say,
'That should be illegal.' Well, I agree," McCaskill said in a
statement. "Congress never imagined tribes would allow themselves to
be used by pharmaceutical companies to avoid challenges to patents,
and this bill will shut the practice down before others follow
suit."
Allergan was not immediately available for comment.
Allergan said last month that it was transferring patents on its
blockbuster dry eye medication Restasis to New York's Saint Regis
Mohawk Tribe, which agreed to exclusively license them back to the
company in exchange for ongoing payments.
The Tribe issued a statement expressing outrage at McCaskill's move
and accused the senator of engaging in double standards. It said the
proposed legislation "specifically targets Indian tribes, yet
exempts state universities and other sovereign governments engaged
in the very same IPR (inter partes review) process."
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Allergan has argued that the legal maneuver is aimed at removing
administrative patent challenges through inter partes review by the
U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and not challenges in federal
court. The drugmaker said it believes that the patents should not be
subject to the IPR process - which Allergan has called flawed and
broken - because of the tribe's sovereign immunity.
The company still faces a challenge to the patents in federal court.
(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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