Erleada: patented from NIH-funded research, then Medicare paid $1.39B for it in 2024

University of California Los Angeles reported 4 patents on this drug to NIH as inventions made with NIH grant money. Janssen Biotech lists them with the FDA as protecting Erleada.

Patent reported to NIH as grant-funded

Medicare paid, 2024

$1.39B

before rebates

Medicare, 2020–2024

$4.53B

$105K per patient in 2024

Medicaid paid, 2024

$52M

before rebates

NIH grants behind the patents

$43M

whole-grant totals, not the drug's cost

The public record, link by link

1 · Public money
NIH grant to University of California Los Angeles, $43M in all.
2 · Patent
8445507, 8802689, 9388159, 9987261, reported to NIH under P50CA092131.
3 · FDA approval
Approved Feb 14, 2018, held by Janssen Biotech (NDA 210951).
4 · Public pays
Medicare paid $1.39B in 2024 for 13,253 patients; Medicaid $52M.

What Medicare paid for Erleada

Medicare Part D and Part B gross spending by year, before manufacturer rebates.

The grants

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

Grant	Research	Years	NIH paid
P50CA092131 NCI	UCLA SPORE in Prostate Cancer University of California Los Angeles	2002–2023	$43M

Grant

Research

Years

NIH paid

P50CA092131

NCI

UCLA SPORE in Prostate Cancer

University of California Los Angeles

2002–2023

$43M

The patents

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

US 8445507
ANDROGEN RECEPTOR MODULATOR FOR THE TREATMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER AND ANDROGEN RECEPTOR-ASSOCIATED DISEASES
Reported by University of California Los Angeles
FDA-listed expiry Feb 14, 2032
US 8802689
ANDROGEN RECEPTOR MODULATOR FOR THE TREATMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER AND ANDROGEN RECEPTOR-ASSOCIATED DISEASES
Reported by University of California Los Angeles
FDA-listed expiry Mar 27, 2027
US 9388159
PREPARATION AND ACTIVITY OF NOVEL PROSTATE CANCER DRUGS
Reported by University of California Los Angeles
FDA-listed expiry Mar 27, 2027
US 9987261
ANDROGEN RECEPTOR MODULATOR FOR THE TREATMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER AND ANDROGEN RECEPTOR-ASSOCIATED DISEASES
Reported by University of California Los Angeles
FDA-listed expiry Mar 27, 2027

Johnson & Johnson'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 Erleada are linked above, and Johnson & Johnson's page shows its other drugs on this list. If Johnson & Johnson 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.