Comment · Fri, November 2, 2012 · Ceretropic
Cephalon/Teva owns a patent for Modafinil that lasts until 2024. Could this slow down generics?
Original post in this thread
mjtribute · 10 points
According to the FDA's Orange Book, these are the two patents which cover Cephalon's Modafinil 100mg:
RE37516 (expires 2015) and 7297346 (expires 2024).
Cephalon/Teva have litigated vigorously over Modafinil, going as far as acquiring competitors and paying large sums of money in settlements to delay the release of generics as long as possible.
Of course, we have Modalert (Modafinil) and Wakalert (Armodafinil) from the Indian firm Sun Pharma. But as far as American pharmaceuticals are concerned, don't these patents listed above stand in the way of additional Modafinil g…
What they were answering
Echobelly · 1 points
I see, thanks. I just wasn't sure of the scale or cost of synthesizing something like this, but I guess like you said if it's comparable to more profitable stuff there's little point.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
At the price we're getting modafinil for online, there's not much room for a small chemist to make any profit. Large labs that can get precursors in bulk, and make huge batches, have a lot more room for margin. Do an MDMA synth, and you can make 10-15 times the profit. Granted the precursors for MDMA are watched much closer than the ones for modafinil, but that's the risk. You also have to consider curiosity. Many of these chemists are not interested in synthesizing modafinil because it's boring. A lot of them are synthesizing new "research chemicals" that they can experiment with the effects.