Southern District of Ohio Judge Michael Watson dismissed an antitrust claim brought be direct purchasers of the drug Plavix against the patent holder and its generic competitor alleging that they anticompetitively kept generic Plavix from the market. The patent holder and generic competitor had reached a settlement agreement that was rejected by the FTC. The parties […]
Category Archives: Patent Litigation
Drug Patent Reverse Payment Settlement Challenge Thrown Out
April 9, 2010 – 4:52 pm
Third Circuit Judge Joseph Greenaway, Jr., sitting by designation in the District of NJ granted summary judgment in favor of Schering-Plough in a case challenging a reverse payment settlement involving the drug K-Dur 20. The court held that since the settlements permit the introduction of competing drugs before the expiration of the patent, they could […]
Drug Retailers Allege Conspiracy to Block Generic Provigil
March 20, 2010 – 3:32 pm
Update March 2011: The court granted plaintiff Apotex’s motion for a declaratory judgment of non-infringement on one of the two patents-in-suit despite the defendant’s admisison of non-infringement. The court commented that a ruling on both patents-in-suit was required to trigger the 180 day exclusivity period under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Update Spring 2010: E.D. PA Judge […]
Second Circuit Urges En Banc Review While Upholding Reverse Payment Drug Settlement
March 7, 2010 – 10:20 am
Update March 2011: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied certiorari without explanation. Update: The Second Circuit has denied drug purchasers request for en banc review of the decision upholding a reverse payment settlement between a patented drug manufacturer and a generic drug manufacturer. The Second Circuit in Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation held that it was […]
Georgia Federal Court Upholds Reverse Payment Drug Patent Settlement
February 27, 2010 – 9:54 pm
In a multi-district consolidation, Judge Thrash, Northern District of Georgia, ruled that reverse payment settlements between Solvay Pharmaceuticals and generic drug makers involving the testosterone supplement AndroGel were legal. The Federal Trade Commission and private plaintiffs had alleged that the settlements were anticompetitive because they constituted payments in exchange for keeping generic competition off the […]
EC Examining Reverse Payment Settlements
January 13, 2010 – 11:05 am
The EC has requested information from to pharmaceutical companies, including copies of patent settlement agreements affecting the EU between originator and generic pharmaceutical companies from July 1, 2008, to December 31, 2009. The Commission is focused on situations in which the pioneer company a potential generic competitor in return for delaying the market entry of a generic drug.
EC Investigating Lundbeck Regarding Generic Drug Entry
January 11, 2010 – 1:08 pm
The EC is investigating Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck to determine whether it took improper actions intended to hinder the entry of generic citalopram, and anti-depressant drug, into European markets.
Abbott Settles Tricor Action Filed by States
January 9, 2010 – 7:28 pm
Update January 2010: Abbott has agreed to settle Tricor related claims filed by 22 states and the District of Columbia in the District of Delaware for $22.5 million. Update April 2009: The settlement amount has increased to $250 million, and a number of cases filed by various states and the District of Columbia based on […]
US Supreme Court Denies Cert in FTC v. Rambus
December 8, 2009 – 5:16 pm
Update December 2009: The EC has agreed to close its investigation of Rambus in exchange for Rambus’s agreement to issue royalty free licenses for its SDR and DDR chips and to charge 1.5% for patents necessary for later chip standards, a percentage point reduction from the company’s current royalties for DDR chips. Ramus is not […]
Second Circuit Permits Generic Drug Price Fixing Case to Move Forward
December 1, 2009 – 4:07 pm
In In re: DDAVP Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court’s dismissal of an antitrust case alleging that Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc. conspired to keep generic drugs off the shelves by fraudulently acquiring a patent for diabetes drug DDVAP. The court held that the plaintiffs have […]