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AbbVie · Elagolix Sodium

Orilissa: patented from NIH-funded research, then Medicare paid $3.2M for it in 2024

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. reported a patent on this drug to NIH as an invention made with NIH grant money. Abbvie lists it with the FDA as protecting Orilissa.
Patent reported to NIH as grant-funded

Medicare paid, 2024

$3.2M

before rebates

Medicare, 2020–2024

$17M

$6K per patient in 2024

Medicaid paid, 2024

$25M

before rebates

NIH grants behind the patents

$1.0M

whole-grant totals, not the drug's cost

The public record, link by link

  1. 1 · Public money

    2 NIH grants to Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., $1.0M in all.

  2. 2 · Patent

    7419983, reported to NIH under R43HD038625, R44HD038625.

  3. 3 · FDA approval

    Approved Jul 23, 2018, held by Abbvie (NDA 210450).

  4. 4 · Public pays

    Medicare paid $3.2M in 2024 for 511 patients; Medicaid $25M.

What Medicare paid for Orilissa

Medicare Part D and Part B gross spending by year, before manufacturer rebates.
2020: $3.0M20202021: $3.3M20212022: $3.7M20222023: $3.6M20232024: $3.2M2024: $3.2M2024

The grants

Totals are everything NIH paid on each grant since 1985. A grant usually funded more than this one invention.
GrantResearchYearsNIH paid
R44HD038625

NICHD, small-business grant

Novel Non-Peptide Antagonists of the GnRH Receptor

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.

2001–2002$943K
R43HD038625

NICHD, small-business grant

NOVEL NON-PEPTIDE ANTAGONIST OF THE GNRH RECEPTOR

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.

2000$100K

The patents

Patents the FDA lists for this drug that were also reported to NIH as grant-funded inventions.
  • US 7419983

    Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor Antagonists and Methods Relating Thereto

    Reported by Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.

    FDA-listed expiry Jul 6, 2029

AbbVie's side

Drug makers pay for the clinical trials that take a compound from the lab to FDA approval, and they often license the patent from the university and pay royalties on sales. Those terms are not public. The FDA's approval records for Orilissa are linked above, and AbbVie's page shows its other drugs on this list. If AbbVie wants to add its account, we will publish it here.

How this is built. Universities and companies that use NIH grants must report the inventions those grants produce to NIH, under the Bayh-Dole Act. NIH publishes the patent numbers and the grants they were reported under. We match those patents to the patents drug makers list with the FDA for each approved drug (the Orange Book), then add what Medicare Part D, Part B and Medicaid paid for each drug. Only patents still listed with the FDA appear, so drugs whose patents have expired drop out, and biologics, which the Orange Book does not cover, are not here yet.

What the numbers mean. "NIH grants" is everything NIH paid out on the grants a patent was reported under, from 1985 on. A grant usually paid for more than the one invention, so it is not the cost of the drug. Medicare and Medicaid figures are gross spending before the rebates drug makers pay back, which are confidential. Companies also paid for the clinical trials that took these drugs to approval; each drug page links the company's own filings.

Sources: NIH RePORTER patents reported under NIH grants (from iEdison); NIH RePORTER project funding; FDA Orange Book patent and product files; Medicare Part D Spending by Drug; Medicare Part B Spending by Drug; Medicaid Spending by Drug. Updated 2026-11-05.