The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has challenged hundreds of alleged “junk” patents held by pharmaceutical companies for 20 brand-name drugs, including Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster drugs Ozempic, Saxenda, and Victoza. The FTC warned 10 companies that certain drug patents were improperly listed, including Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Covis Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals. The FTC argues that drugmakers are needlessly listing dozens of extra patents for branded medications to keep their drug prices high and stall generic competitors from entering the U.S. market. The FTC Chair Lina Khan said that filing bogus patent listings blocks competition and inflates the cost of prescription drugs, forcing Americans to pay high prices for medicines they rely on.