Brand-name drug makers are striking more deals with generic rivals to restrict the introduction of cheaper generic drugs, antitrust authorities said on Monday.
Emboldened by recent victories in court, pharmaceutical companies are using controversial settlements that entail payments to generic rivals which promise to restrict selling competing generic drugs, a Federal Trade Commission official said in a speech on Monday.
“We are seeing far more settlements today that potentially raise competition concerns,” FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said in prepared remarks for a Philadelphia business group.
Leibowitz’s comments came on the same day the FTC released a report on patent settlements among drug companies.
The FTC has filed lawsuits in recent years challenging patent settlement agreements between major drugmakers and their generic rivals. In some cases, the FTC contends the settlements stifle competition because drugmakers are paying generics to stay out of the market.
Why not, the RIAA is screwing you, the MPAA is screwing you, M$ is screwing you, oil companies are screwing you and your government is screwing you, why not the drug companies…
Nothing is free in the land of the free, especially health care. We should quit fighting all these damned wars and spend the money on a national health service. We’ve got wars on poverty, drugs, illiteracy, etc, and we’re losing them, and we’re not doing all that well in Irag, either. We need to quit screwing around with this world domination crap and make this place the showplace of the planet, instead of the global headquarters of the “How To Screw Up A Really Good Country” foundation.
Actually, John, I would say that the progressive movement of the early 20th century gave us a pretty good lesson on “How To Screw Up A Really Good Country”
Nothing was free in the great land of communism either. Everything has a price, one way or another.
#2 Just send me 3% of your yearly pay and you can add me to the list.