AbbVie’s adalimumab patent thicket not anti-competitive

The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has agreed with the District Court, finding that AbbVie holding 132 US patents relating to Humira®, and settling litigation regarding the same, was not anti-competitive.  The decision rejected the appeal filed by welfare benefit payors.  The Court commented that there is no cap on the number of patents any one person can hold pertaining to a single subject, that every patent is presumed to be valid, that the appellants have not proved that AbbVie was using invalid patents to protect its monopoly, and that the settlements did not amount to cartel conduct.