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US: Controversial ‘pay-for-delay’ deals drop after FTC’s win in top court

By  |  January 14, 2016

Branded drug companies hammered out far fewer deals with generic drug makers to delay sales of cheaper medicines in the year after the Supreme Court ruled the Federal Trade Commission could legally pursue such agreements as potentially illegal.

The FTC, which has fought the practice for years, said that pharmaceutical companies reached 21 of the “pay-for-delay” deals in fiscal 2014, compared with 29 in 2013 and a record 40 in 2012.

The Supreme Court ruling said in June 2013 that the deals could potentially be a violation of antitrust law but refused the FTC’s request to declare them to be presumed to be illegal.

In a typical pay-for-delay deal, a branded drug company will give a generic firm money or some other consideration in exchange for the generic firm’s agreement to delay bringing out a cheaper version of the medicine.

Full content: Fierce Pharma

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