Patent Baristas

In a follow-up to an earlier discussion about the shift in position by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, which has withdrawn a September report that “raised too many hurdles to government antitrust enforcement and favored extreme caution” toward antitrust enforcement action, Hal Walker of Foley & Lardner has sent details on the confirmation hearing questions of […]

The Antitrust Division must step forward and take a leading role in the development of the Government’s multi-faceted response to the current market conditions. Vigorous antitrust enforcement action under Section 2 of the Sherman Act will be part of the Division’s critical contribution to this response.  ~Christine A. Varney It looks like the U.S. Department […]

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in federal district court challenging agreements by Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which paid generic drug makers Watson Pharmaceuticals and Par Pharmaceutical Companies to delay launching generic versions of Solvay’s brand name testosterone-replacement drug AndroGel, a prescription pharmaceutical with annual sales of more than $400 million. According to the Commission’s […]

As of July 2008, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have filed antitrust suits against Abbott Laboratories and Solvay’s Fournier Industrie et Santé and Laboratories Fournier in Delaware District Court, charging them with blocking generic competition by engaging in product hopping, among other “anti-generic strategies.”  Patent Baristas reported the initial filing here. As Stephen […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave a high-five to settlement agreements between a patent holder and a generic manufacturer saying it doesn’t violate antitrust laws under the Hatch-Waxman Act.  In re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation (08-1097). The agreements in question involved a reverse payment from the Bayer to Barr, but did […]