By David Ingram
WASHINGTON, March 28 Fri Mar 28, 2014 11:51am EDT
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission seeks a settlement of $1 billion or more from pharmaceutical companies it has sued for delaying the sale of cheaper medicines after patents on brand-name drugs may have expired, an FTC official told a legal conference on Friday.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>The antitrust agency alleges that the way drugmakers settle patent-related lawsuits hurts consumers by making drugs more expensive. In the settlements, makers of brand-name drugs pay millions of dollars to generics companies while they delay putting their products on the U.S. market.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the FTC may challenge the deals in federal courts.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>A panel moderator at the American Bar Association's spring antitrust meeting asked Deborah Feinstein, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, what developments to expect in the coming year.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>"My hope is that we get a billion-dollar settlement in one of the patent-settlement, pay-for-delay cases," Feinstein responded, giving no indication that any settlement was imminent. The FTC's long-running lawsuits are not close to going to trial.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>"In all truth, that is one of the biggest priorities we have," she said. "The consumer harm there is extremely significant, and so we have a tremendous amount of resources there and hope to come out with a victory one way or another in those cases."
<span id="midArticle_6"/>Defendants in the lawsuits include Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc, owned by AbbVie Inc ; Actavis, previously Watson Pharmaceuticals; Paddock Laboratories Inc, part of Perrigo Co ; Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc ; and Cephalon Inc, owned by Teva.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>Generic drugmakers like the "pay for delay" arrangements because if they bring out their products before patent-infringement litigation is over, they run the risk of paying triple damages on sales if they are found to have infringed.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>The FTC shares antitrust authority in the United States with the U.S. Justice Department.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Howard Goller and Alden Bentley)
<span id="midArticle_10"/>
WASHINGTON, March 28 Fri Mar 28, 2014 11:51am EDT
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission seeks a settlement of $1 billion or more from pharmaceutical companies it has sued for delaying the sale of cheaper medicines after patents on brand-name drugs may have expired, an FTC official told a legal conference on Friday.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>The antitrust agency alleges that the way drugmakers settle patent-related lawsuits hurts consumers by making drugs more expensive. In the settlements, makers of brand-name drugs pay millions of dollars to generics companies while they delay putting their products on the U.S. market.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the FTC may challenge the deals in federal courts.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>A panel moderator at the American Bar Association's spring antitrust meeting asked Deborah Feinstein, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, what developments to expect in the coming year.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>"My hope is that we get a billion-dollar settlement in one of the patent-settlement, pay-for-delay cases," Feinstein responded, giving no indication that any settlement was imminent. The FTC's long-running lawsuits are not close to going to trial.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>"In all truth, that is one of the biggest priorities we have," she said. "The consumer harm there is extremely significant, and so we have a tremendous amount of resources there and hope to come out with a victory one way or another in those cases."
<span id="midArticle_6"/>Defendants in the lawsuits include Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc, owned by AbbVie Inc ; Actavis, previously Watson Pharmaceuticals; Paddock Laboratories Inc, part of Perrigo Co ; Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc ; and Cephalon Inc, owned by Teva.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>Generic drugmakers like the "pay for delay" arrangements because if they bring out their products before patent-infringement litigation is over, they run the risk of paying triple damages on sales if they are found to have infringed.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>The FTC shares antitrust authority in the United States with the U.S. Justice Department.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Howard Goller and Alden Bentley)
<span id="midArticle_10"/>
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