Patent Baristas

OK, maybe not explode but at least some terrible, Armageddon-like fate.  According to a study by the Federal Trade Commission, pharmaceutical companies are engaging in anti-competitive tactics of paying potential generic rivals to delay the introduction of lower-cost prescription drug alternatives.  The report summarizes data on patent settlements filed with the FTC and the Department […]

On January 13, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chairman Jon Leibowitz held a press conference with Congressional members Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bobby Rush (D-IL), and Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) arguing that health care reform legislation should include a prohibition to the patent settlements referred to as “reverse payment settlements” or “pay-for-delay settlements”. Reverse payment […]

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted to pass a compromise version of the bill by members Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) banning pay-for-delay settlements that keep generic drugs off the market. The “Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act (S.396 RS)” is an attempt to reduce the anti-consumer practice of brand-name drug manufacturers using […]

As mentioned earlier, not only has the Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in federal district court challenging agreements by Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which paid generic drug makers to delay launching generic versions of Solvay’s brand name drug AndroGel (known as “reverse payments“), but Senate Judiciary Committee members Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) […]

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 […]

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal) introduced the Non-Prescription Drug Modernization Act of 2007 (H.R. 4083) legislation in the House. The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) and was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill will “amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for the amendment or repeal […]

While not as fundamentally important as Bong Hits 4 Jesus, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case profoundly important to the pharmaceutical industry. For the second time, the Court rebuffed a challenge to a “reverse payments” deal — this one where an AstraZeneca company paid off a Barr Pharmaceuticals company to delay marketing […]

In another stirring chapter of the on-going Plavix debacle, the Bristol-Myers Squibb pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of two violations of the federal False Statements Act and will pay a $1 million fine (the maximum penalty) for lying to the federal government about a patent deal involving the anticoagulant drug Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate). The […]