EU Says Pay-To-Delay Deals Drop; Fines J&J And Novartis

After applying greater scrutiny of pay-to-delay deals between brand-name and generic drugmakers, the European Commission finds that fewer such troubling patent settlements took place last year. At the same time, though, the agency has fined Johnson & Johnson nearly $15 million and Novartis about $7.5 million for allegedly conspiring to delay the generic introduction of a prescription pain patch in the Netherlands. European antitrust regulators over the last few years have been cracking down on certain deals, in which a brand-name drugmaker offers a payment to a generic rival that then agrees to delay the launch of a copycat medicine. Concern over patent settlements has picked up steam as European governments grapple with rising healthcare costs, including prescription drugs. The troublesome deals, however, accounted for 12 of 183, or 7 percent of all patent settlements concluded in 2012, compared with 45 of 207, or 22 percent of all settlements between 2000 and the first half of 2008, according to the European Commission. The agency also noted there was a slight increase in patent settlements overall in 2012 compared with 2011 – 125, up from 120. "Our fourth monitoring report shows that companies are increasingly aware of the competition concerns that some settlements may raise. It also demonstrates that the Commission's action has not prevented companies from settling patent disputes in line with the antitrust rules," says EC vp Joaquin Almunia, who is in charge of com...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs