[Ip-health] US Supreme Court may hear pharma antitrust case

[Benjamin Krohmal]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Patently-O Patent Law Blog
March 19, 2007
Dennis Crouch
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2007/03/stay_tuned.html

"In an order today, the Supreme Court asked the US Solicitor General
for the Gov'ts views on Joblove v. Barr Labs.  This case, also known
as Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litigation, questions the antitrust
viability of reverse-payment settlements.

Pharmaceutical patent owners and generic makers have been accused of
cooperating in a scheme to prop-up drug prices.  In a number of
cases, generic manufacturers have received payments from patent
owners as incentive to drop patent challenges. So far the courts have
OK'd the agreements, but the Government is pushing its case for
enforcement of the Antitrust laws.

Over the past few years, the FTC & DOJ have been at-odds on whether
this business practice represents a problem.

In 2006, FTC v. Schering-Plough, a similar case was presented to the
Supreme Court. There, the DOJ filed a brief indicating its
disagreement with the FTC and arguing that the high court should not
hear the case. In its brief, the DOJ indicated that the Tamoxifen
litigation (this case) would be a better avenue for the Supreme
Court's focus.  After hearring the DOJ's argument, the Supreme Court
denied cert in Schering-Plough."






Benjamin Krohmal
Coordinator - Project on Medical Innovation
Knowledge Ecology International
Tel: +1-202-332-2670 ex. 14
Fax: +1-202-332-2673
ben.krohmal@keionline.org