Per Senator Orrin Hatch, the America Invents Act has disrupted the "careful balance" he struck with Senator Waxman in the development of the decades-old Hatch-Waxman Act governing the adjudication of generic drug litigation. On June 13, 2018, Senator Hatch filed an amendment in the Senate Judiciary Committee to remedy the perceived conflict between the "carefully calibrated requirements" of Abbreviated New Drug Application ("ANDA") litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act and the "much blunter instrument" of post-grant proceedings before the United States Patent Trial and Appeal ("PTAB"). According to Senator Hatch, the amendment "will ensure that Hatch-Waxman continues to operate as originally intended by protecting the ability of generic drug companies to develop low-cost drugs while at the same time ensuring brand-name companies have sufficient protections in place to recoup their investments." A press release of Senator Hatch's remarks is available here.
The "Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act" by Senator Hatch is an amendment to the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act (CREATES Act), legislation designed to help generic drug companies acquire the samples they need to develop generic drugs, particularly for products subject to a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy ("REMS"). The CREATES Act advanced to the Senate from the Judiciary Committee on June 14, 2018, and was been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar on June 21, 2018.
The Amendment would add to the CREATES Act a section entitled "Preventing the Inter Partes Review Process for Challenging Patents from Diminishing Competition in the Pharmaceutical Industry and with Respect to Drug Innovation; Preventing the Manipulative and Deceptive Use of Inter Partes Review." The section has three parts and targets both generic drug manufacturers and biosimilar companies.
In the first portion of the Amendment, an ANDA applicant must certify that they have not and will not file an Inter Partes Review ("IPR") or Post-Grant Review ("PGR") or forfeit the ability to participate in the Hatch-Waxman litigation procedures. Additionally, the ANDA applicants must certify that they are not relying in whole or in part on any decision reached by the PTAB in an IPR or PGR proceeding.
Second, the Amendment forces a similar choice for biosimilar applicants. Those who file an abbreviated Biologics License Application ("aBLA") must decide, with respect to any patent that is or could be included in the lists of patents that are exchanged as part of the "Patent Dance," whether to challenge patents in an IPR/PGR or take the path outlined in the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act ("BPCIA").
Third, the Amendment aims to end certain market practices and appears to apply broadly to all parties filing for post grant proceedings. To "prevent[] the Manipulative and Deceptive Use of Inter Partes Review," the Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to address market manipulation tied to inter partes review petitions, such as that attempted by the Coalition for Affordable Drugs. Specifically, "a person shall be considered to be using a manipulative or deceptive device" if they file a petition for an IPR and engage in a short sale of any publicly traded security of the owner of the patent at issue in the IPR for the 90 days before and after the filing of the petition.
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