US FTC will continue to challenge "anticompetitive" pharma pay-for-delay deals

The Federal Trade Commission told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee yesterday (July 23) that it will continue to challenge anticompetitive pay-for-delay court settlements in the pharmaceutical industry, and that the recent US Supreme Court decision in FTC v Actavis (The Pharma Letter June 18) “is an important victory for consumers and a vindication of basic antitrust and free market principles.”

Testifying on behalf of the FTC before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights, the FTC’s new chairwoman, Edith Ramirez, called the pay-for-delay issue “one of the Commission’s top priorities” and said the Commission “remains united today in its determination to end these illegal pay-for-delay agreements,” continuing the pressure on patent settlements between drug originators and generics companies advocated by her predecessor Jon Leibowitz, who was a hugely vociferous critic of such activities.

“Because of the Actavis decision, we are in a much stronger position to protect consumers from anticompetitive drug-patent settlements that result in higher drug costs,” the testimony states.