Brand Names Take Note: Legislation Could Block Deals with Generics
With the Democrats taking over Congress, brand name drug companies could find themselves unable to negotiate with makers of generics to delay market entry, Bloomberg reports. Consumer focused legislation backed by the Federal Trade Commission is gaining momentum and could potentially prohibit brand name drug companies from settling patent litigation by paying generic drug makers for delaying their products. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved the proposed ban, and the House will soon be taking up the topic.
Consumer group advocates have argued that the current system favors both generic and brand name companies while detrimentally impacting consumers who are forced to front the high cost of brand named drugs while the delay is in effect. Others, such as Bill Tauzin, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana, believe that such deals are actually pro-consumer. In the Bloomberg article, Tauzin is quoted as saying that the payments "can benefit consumers'' by ending costly patent litigation that can cause longer delays in marketing generic drugs and can exhaust the litigants' "valuable resources."
Perhaps only time will tell whether this legislation can actually get through both the House and the Senate and meet with the approval of the President.
For more information on this topic, make sure to check out the well done Orange Book Blog written by attorney Aaron Barkoff. The blog highlights stories "at the intersection of patent law and FDA law."
