Allergan and New York Native American Tribe Partner to Protect Drug Patents

Written by: Kristian E. Ziegler for the Daily Record

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, whose Akwesasne territory straddles the U.S.-Canadian border in Franklin County, New York, and the provincial boarder between Ontario and Quebec, recently parlayed its sovereign immunity into several valuable pharmaceutical patents and a significant revenue stream.  

Allergan PLC, a leading global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, transferred six patents covering its top-selling dry eye drug Restasis to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.  Under their agreement with Allergan, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe receives a $13.75 million initial payment and $15 million in annual royalties, starting next year, until the Restasis patents expire in 2024 or are no longer valid (yes, you read that correctly - Allergan paid the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe millions of dollars to take ownership of the Restasis patents).  Allergan retains the rest of the revenue from the sales of Restasis, the company's second-biggest seller after Botox, which had $1.4 billion in sales last year.  In a unified statement about the agreement with Allergan, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council stated, "This is a viable and sound opportunity for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe to enter into the patent, technology and research sector as part of our overall economic diversification strategy. We realize that we cannot depend solely on casino revenues and, in order for us to be self-reliant, we must enter into diverse business sectors to address the chronically unmet needs of the Akwesasne community; such as housing, employment, education, healthcare, cultural and language preservation."  Before the Allergan deal, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s annual budget was reportedly about $50 million.