EU Commission launches monitoring of patent settlements concluded between drugmakers

Stepping up its investigations of the pharmaceutical industry, the European Commission confirmed this morning that, on the basis of European Union antitrust rules, it has addressed requests for information to certain pharmaceutical companies asking them to submit copies of their patent settlement agreements.

The requests cover patent settlement agreements concluded between originator and generic pharmaceutical companies in the period from July 1, 2008, to December 31, 2009, and relating to the EU/EEA. The Commission is in particular looking at patent settlements where an originator company pays off a generic competitor in return for delayed market entry of a copy drug.

This monitoring exercise has been launched in the light of the findings of the competition inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector Inquiry (published in July 2009; The Pharma Letters passim). The sector inquiry highlighted the risk that certain types of patent settlements may have negative effects on European consumers by depriving them of a broader choice of medicines at lower prices and indicated that the Commission could monitor such patent settlements.