Professor Erika Lietzan published an essay on the Health Affairs blog, concerning the Supreme Court’s June 12 decision in Sandoz v. Amgen.

This heavily-anticipated decision related to patent disputes between the developers of new biological medicines and the manufacturers of “biosimilar” copies of those medicines. This was the court’s first ruling on the patent provisions of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), enacted in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Professor Lietzan, who was deeply involved in the legislative negotiations that led to the enactment of the BPCIA and filed an amicus brief before the court on behalf of a group of law professors and economics professors, explains what the court settled, what it did not settle and what might come next.