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14 January 2016Americas

‘Pay-for-delay’ deals on the wane, says FTC

Pharmaceutical companies have entered into fewer ‘pay-for-delay’ patent settlements since the US Supreme Court said such agreements could violate anti-competition laws, a report has claimed.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed that fewer branded pharma companies are inking deals with generic drug makers that delay the sale of cheaper medicines.

In 2013, the Supreme Court said in FTC v Actavis that the deals could potentially violate anti-competition law and that regulators should be free to challenge them.

However the court refused the FTC’s request to declare them to be presumed illegal.

In the FTC’s report, it said that in the fiscal year 2014 there were 21 settlements agreed, down from 29 in 2013.  In the fiscal year 2012, before the FTC ruling, there were 40 deals.

Debbie Feinstein, director of the FTC’s bureau of competition, said: “Consumers are better off when there is more competition from lower-priced generic medicines.

“Although it is too soon to know if these are lasting trends, it is encouraging to see a significant decline in the numbers of reverse payment settlements.”

The FTC did not say which drug makers were involved in the 21 deals in 2014 but said that 20 different branded drugs with combined US sales of about $6.2 billion were included in the list.

According to the report, more than 80% of cases were resolved without compensation to the generic manufacturer or restrictions on generic competition.

In May last year the FTC won a key pay-for-delay case when Teva was ordered to pay $1.2 billion to generic drug makers in a dispute centring on the sleep deprivation drug Provigil (modafinil).


More on this story

Americas
25 July 2013   The chair of the FTC has said it will continue to challenge pay-for-delay court settlements in the pharmaceutical industry and has hailed a Supreme Court ruling as a victory for consumers.
Americas
6 November 2017   Pharmaceutical companies have entered into fewer potential ‘pay-for-delay’ patent settlements for the second year in a row, following the US Supreme Court’s decision in FTC v Actavis.
Big Pharma
24 May 2019   The number of ‘pay-for-delay’ patent settlements reached in fiscal year 2016 represented a “considerable increase” from the previous year, according to a Federal Trade Commission report released yesterday, May 23, though there has been a considerable reduction in the most problematic settlements since 2013.

More on this story

Americas
25 July 2013   The chair of the FTC has said it will continue to challenge pay-for-delay court settlements in the pharmaceutical industry and has hailed a Supreme Court ruling as a victory for consumers.
Americas
6 November 2017   Pharmaceutical companies have entered into fewer potential ‘pay-for-delay’ patent settlements for the second year in a row, following the US Supreme Court’s decision in FTC v Actavis.
Big Pharma
24 May 2019   The number of ‘pay-for-delay’ patent settlements reached in fiscal year 2016 represented a “considerable increase” from the previous year, according to a Federal Trade Commission report released yesterday, May 23, though there has been a considerable reduction in the most problematic settlements since 2013.