US: Judge backs FTC’s pharmacy patent rules

A federal judge has issued a ruling that sides with the Federal Trade Commission’s rules regarding pharmaceutical patents, according to reports.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America launched a legal challenge to the FTC’s 2013 Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act addition, which required two types of patent transfers within the pharmaceutical industry to be notified to competition regulators. The rules concerned the transfer of exclusive patent rights for use and selling purposes while the original patent holder kept manufacturing rights, as well as the transfer of exclusive rights for manufacturing and selling purposes while the original licensor could still hold some co-rights.

But the PhRMA argued those rules “single out and burden” the industry unfairly. In its legal challenge, the pharmaceutical group argued that the FTC overstepped its authority under the HSR Act.

The FTC’s defense argued that the HSR Act’s language is ambiguous as to whether the regulator can single out an industry.

US District Judge Beryl Howell issued a summary judgment siding with the FTC in the matter, reports say.

Full content: Courthouse News Service

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