What We're Reading: Takeda–Shire Deal; SCOTUS Upholds Patent Reviews; Regifting Kidney Transplants

Takeda and Shire Reach Preliminary Purchase Agreement

Takeda Pharmaceutical has increased its bid to purchase Shire Plc to $64 billion. The Japanese company has made 5 bids in the last month in an attempt to purchase Shire, according to Bloomberg. Takeda is trying to purchase the Irish pharma company in order to replenish its drug pipeline with rare disease treatments. The deal would be more of a merger than a purchase, with Shire shareholders owning half the company if the deal went through.

SCOTUS Upholds Inter Partes Review Process

A process for reviewing drug patents has been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Center for Biosimilars^®, a sister site of AJMC.com, reported that the court ruled 7-2 to uphold the review process, which makes it easier to challenge questionable patents. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch were the only dissenting votes. The result of the vote will likely be “increased success of invalidity challenges for biologic patents,” one expert told The Center for Biosimilars^®.

Addressing the Organ Shortage With Regifted Kidney Transplants

At the University of California, Los Angeles, an “unspoken taboo” against reusing transplanted kidneys is being challenged. STAT reported that one surgeon is focusing on transplanting kidneys from people who died with their donated kidneys still healthy—a process that has been done before, but infrequently. Typically, instances when a transplanted kidney is reused occurred in cases just days after the original surgery. The long-term outcomes for re-used kidneys are still unclear.