Botox Maker Allergan's CEO Defends Selling Drug Patents to Native American Tribe to Thwart Rivals

Say you're a pharma company with a key product which brings in about $1.49 billion in annual sales, or a little less than 10% of your revenue stream. Competitors that want to introduce cheaper, generic rivals are hounding you in court while others are challenging the patent through a separate federal entity. What can you do?

In the case of Botox maker Allergan and its blockbuster dry-eye drug Restasis, the surprising answer is transfer the patents to the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe to take advantage of its sovereign Indian Nation status and ward off intellectual property challenges.

http://fortune.com/2017/09/09/allergan-drug-patents-native-american/