Amgen wins patent court case

It is not often that one has to watch legal judgments with your stocks, you would hope that the companies you own stay out of the courts. That is nigh impossible in the modern era though, there is always much open to interpretation. See the story that concerns one of our stocks - Amgen Wins Ban on Sanofi's Praluent Cholesterol Drug Sales. As you can see from the story, Regeneron and Sanofi will appeal this ruling.

As the Bloomberg article points out, this is a big deal for everyone. A big deal for consumers and all the companies concerned. Of course consumers would like alternatives and more choices and definitely cheaper drugs to treat their aliments, over one in four Americans over the age of 40 suffer from high cholesterol and take medication. As such, these are very necessary drugs to reduce the risks of hear disease in later years. See the associated graphic (the usage is rising) from Prescription Cholesterol-lowering Medication Use in Adults Aged 40 and Over: United States, 2003-2012



These drugs in question however are for people who do not respond to the normal treatments, these are for much higher (bad) cholesterol readings. The fewer preventable diseases out there, the better for humanity. The cost is always the issue though. It is a weigh off against the ethics of charging high prices in order to recover the costs of research and development, to fund future development, to cover the costs of failed developments and then of course to make a profit too. The one thing that this business has taught me is that those with free reign are always dictated to by the consumer. If the costs are too high (you may think that an iPhone is too expensive or a Starbucks cappuccino is too excessively priced, the consumer decides that), the product won't be appealing and the company won't pursue that avenue. It will not be long before we hear more on this case.