Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission


Settlements

Jon Leibowitz

between brand name drug companies and generic manufacturers that keep generics off the market are becoming such a big concern that they "threaten to overshadow all other issues related to prescription drug costs," Commissioner Jon Leibowitz of the Federal Trade Commission said.

Some brand-name and generic companies have recently been settling patent challenges with payments from the former to the latter and a commitment by the generic company to delay the introduction of its much lower-priced, alternative drug to the market. (Other generic companies are legally prevented from introducing their own unbranded version of the drug in question to the market during this time.)

Referring to such settlements as "outrageous, anti-consumer agreements," Leibowitz said that legal changes - or a favorable Supreme Court ruling - will probably be necessary to prevent them, since two lower courts have recently decreed that "exclusion payments" in patent settlements are legal. He expressed optimism that lawmakers would address the issue.

"I think they totally get what's going on here," he said. "Sometimes Congress gets it and it just wants to stop the abuse."