Patent pruning shears

The US Senate unanimously passed a bill that will limit drugmakers’ ability to create patent thickets — a “complex web of intellectual property that’s hard for generic or biosimilars developers to navigate.”

That’s right, unanimously. The US Senate. I know, right?

How do they do it? By literally limiting to 20 the number of patents that can be used to defend a product from competition — not more than 10 of which were issued after another company filed to make a generic. (In other words, when they see generic competition coming pharma companies can’t suddenly file for 50 new patents.)

Weekly insulin nixed … for now

We’ve reported a couple of times about Novo Nordisk’s weekly insulin icodec candidate, Awiqli. Not surprisingly, though, the FDA has declined to approve it — at least not without getting more info from the company.

(We wrote back in May how an FDA committee recommended against approval because it thought “the weekly insulin icodec’s benefits do not outweigh the risks.” Novo hoped to get around the criticism with better labeling, but that didn’t fly.)

ICYMI: Ounces of prevention

About 40% of cancer cases — and almost half of all cancer deaths — are attributable to “modifiable risk factors” like smoking, obesity, smoking, poor diet, smoking, over exposure to the sun, alcohol consumption, and smoking, according to a study by the American Cancer Society.

In order of risk:

• Cigarette smoking (attributable to 19.3% of cancer cases)
• Excess body weight (7.6% of all cases)
• Alcohol consumption (5.4%)
• UV radiation exposure (4.6%)
• Physical inactivity (3.1%)

Short takes

Weight loss in a pill

Here’s everything you want to know about the status of oral versions of GLP-1 drugs, courtesy of CNBC.

A little more H5N1

Colorado has reported three new (presumptive) cases of H5N1 bird flu in humans. They were all poultry workers and all had mild symptoms, so nothing to worry about. No sirree.

Found: the cause of lupus

A group of researchers say they’ve found the root cause of lupus: Too much of a particular type of interferon that leads to a “fundamental imbalance in the types of T cells that patients with lupus make.”

Looking at the blood of 19 people (i.e., this was a small sample), they found that those with lupus have too much type I interferon. That ends up blocking the aryl hydrocarbon receptor — “which helps regulate the body’s response to bacteria or environmental pollutants.”

Because that receptor is blocked, two bad things happen. First, the body can’t make enough wound-healing T cells. Second, it “stimulates the production of T cells involved in creating autoantibodies, which attack healthy cells and are a hallmark of lupus.” There’s that “fundamental imbalance.”

The researchers (from Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital) think this is going to hold true for all lupus patients, but others aren’t so sure — “Until they study 100 patients prospectively, how are we going to know?”

Captain Obvious thinks you throw like a girl

“Adolescent Boys Show Aggression When Masculinity is Threatened”