Implode-o-Meter News - Pharma CEO: Americans Will Say "Enough is Enough" and Embrace Bernie Sanders' Single-Payer Plan

BRENT SAUNDERS, THE chief executive of Allergan, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world, is concerned that Americans will become fed up and, in an era of increasing political polarization, come to embrace the single-payer health care plan being unveiled Wednesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
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But if Saunders is concerned that the public may get fed up with the current system, it may have something to do with how Allergan itself has acted recently. The CEO has beenÂ under fire in recent weeks for taking the unprecedented step of transferring the patent of one of Allergan's blockbuster drugs, the eye medication Restasis, to a sovereign Native American tribe as part of a bid to maintain monopoly control of the drug and its revenue.

The highly unusual legal strategy is designed to keep generic drug firms from challenging the Restasis patent, thus lowering the cost to consumers, while keeping Allergan in effective control of the revenue through its deal with theÂ Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. The Restasis patent was approved 15 years ago and was set to expire in 2014, but the Allergan deal is part of an attempt to renew the patent and extend the company's control of the drug through 2024.

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Pharma CEO: Americans Will Say "Enough is Enough" and Embrace Bernie Sanders' Single-Payer Plan