The pharmaceutical industry is rife with tales of companies dreaming up ways to prolong their monopolies on lucrative drugs. They tinker with chemicals. They tweak dosing. They swap out capsules for tablets.By piling up patents, drug companies delay the day when competitors can introduce similar, cheaper products.Jazz Pharmaceuticals has figured out a way to push the boundaries even further — a feat that demonstrates the lengths to which drug makers go to eke out extra profits and that two federal courts have now ruled was improper.Jazz’s most important product is a medication for the sleep disorder narcolepsy. The company patented the drug’s formulation. But Jazz also went further, arming itself with a new weapon to block competition.Because of the drug’s serious side effects and its history of being abused for date rape, federal regulators required Jazz to come up with a plan to ensure that the drug was safely distributed to patients without falling into unintended hands. Jazz’s program included having a single pharmacy nationwide send the medication directly to patients.Jazz took the unusual step of patenting that safety program and then listi …
