In March 2016, a district court found that alirocumab infringed Amgens patents; Amgen then requested an injunction barring Regeneron and Sanofi from marketing alirocumab, which was granted in January 2017. The judge gave Regeneron and Sanofi 30 days to appeal before the injunction went into effect. In October, 2017 the US Court of Appeals reversed the ban and ordered a new trial after finding the jury was given improper instructions and evidence was withheld. Regeneron and Sanofi were allowed to continue marketing alirocumab during the appeals process.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval of Praluent to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Society and culture
In 2014 as PCSK9 inhibitors approached regulatory approval, market analysts estimated that the overall market for these drugs could be $10B per year, with each of alirocumab and Amgens competing drugs having sales of $3B per year, and other competitors dividing the remaining $4B, based on estimates of an annual price for alirocumab of $10,000 per year. At the same time, pharmacy benefit managers such as Express Scripts and CVS Caremark, while recognizing that the new drugs could help patients who were otherwise left with uncontrolled cholesterol levels, and recognizing that injectable biopharmaceuticals will always be more expensive than pills, and especially more expensive than generic pills, expressed concerns about the burden of the new costs on the health care system.When the drug was approved in July 2015, the announced price was higher than analysts had predicted: $14,600 a year.
Oral use
The label for oral formulations of cysteamine carry warnings about symptoms similar to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, severe skin rashes, ulcers or bleeding in the stomach and intestines, central nervous symptoms including  seizures, lethargy, somnolence, depression, and encephalopathy, low white blood cell levels, elevated alkaline phosphatase, and idiopathic intracranial hypertension that can cause  headache, tinnitus, dizziness, nausea, double or blurry vision, loss of vision, and pain behind the eye or pain with eye movement.The main side effects are Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, severe skin rashes, ulcers or bleeding in the stomach and intestines, central nervous symptoms, low white blood cell levels, elevated alkaline phosphatase, and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). IIH can cause headache, ringing in the ears, dizziness, nausea, blurry vision, loss of vision, and pain behind the eye or with eye movement.Additional adverse effects of oral cysteamine include bad breath, skin odor, vomiting, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, and loss of appetite.The drug is in pregnancy category C; the risks of cysteamine to a fetus are not known but it harms babies in animal models at doses less than those given to people.For eye drops, the most common adverse effects are  sensitivity to light, redness, and eye pain, headache, and visual field defects. Interactions
There are no drug interactions for normal capsules or eye drops, but the extended release capsules should not be taken with drugs that affect stomach acid like proton pump inhibitors or with alcohol, as they can cause the drug to be released too quickly. It doesnt inhibit any cytochrome P450 enzymes.