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Pfizer · Tafamidis Meglumine

Vyndaqel: patented from NIH-funded research, then Medicare paid $304M for it in 2024

The Scripps Research Institute reported 2 patents on this drug to NIH as inventions made with NIH grant money. Foldrx Pharmaceuticals lists them with the FDA as protecting Vyndaqel.
Patent reported to NIH as grant-funded

Medicare paid, 2024

$304M

before rebates

Medicare, 2020–2024

$857M

$150K per patient in 2024

Medicaid paid, 2024

$927K

before rebates

NIH grants behind the patents

$16M

whole-grant totals, not the drug's cost

The public record, link by link

  1. 1 · Public money

    3 NIH grants to The Scripps Research Institute, $16M in all.
  2. 2 · Patent

    7214695, 7214696, reported to NIH under R01DK046335, R29DK046335, R37DK046335.
  3. 3 · FDA approval

    Approved May 3, 2019, held by Foldrx Pharmaceuticals (NDA 211996).
  4. 4 · Public pays

    Medicare paid $304M in 2024 for 2,021 patients; Medicaid $927K.

What Medicare paid for Vyndaqel

Medicare Part D and Part B gross spending by year, before manufacturer rebates.
2020: $200M20202021: $127M20212022: $109M20222023: $118M20232024: $304M2024: $304M2024

The grants

Totals are everything NIH paid on each grant since 1985. A grant usually funded more than this one invention.
GrantResearchYearsNIH paid
R01DK046335

NIDDK

Probing the biochemical mechanism of amyloid disease

The Scripps Research Institute

1998–2025$9.3M
R37DK046335

NIDDK

Probing the biochemical mechanism of amyloid disease

The Scripps Research Institute

2006–2015$5.9M
R29DK046335

NIDDK

BIOCHEMICAL MECHANISM OF AMYLOID DISEASE

The Scripps Research Institute

1993–1997$505K

The patents

Patents the FDA lists for this drug that were also reported to NIH as grant-funded inventions.
  • US 7214695

    Compositions and methods for stabilizing transthyretin and inhibiting transthyretin misfolding

    Reported by The Scripps Research Institute

    FDA-listed expiry Dec 19, 2026
  • US 7214696

    COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR STABILIZING TRANSTHYRETIN AND INHIBITING TRANSTHYRETIN MISFOLDING

    Reported by The Scripps Research Institute

    FDA-listed expiry Dec 19, 2026

Pfizer'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 Vyndaqel are linked above, and Pfizer's page shows its other drugs on this list. If Pfizer 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.