The Supreme Court Again Declines To Address “Reverse Payment” Settlements
We are a bit late on this, but it is worth noting that late last month the Supreme Court declined cert in “reverse payment” case Joblove v. Barr Labs (the In re Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litigation case). As the Wall Street Journal explains:
Reverse payments occur when pharmaceutical companies pay a generic drug maker to hold off on marketing an alternative version of a brand-name drug near the end of exclusive patent protections. In an unusual public dispute between two federal agencies, the Federal Trade Commission, which is working to stop the patent deals, and the Justice Department have been at odds over whether the Supreme Court should weigh in on the practice. The Supreme Court rejected a similar appeal last year in a case involving Schering-Plough Corp. after the Solicitor General’s Office, an arm of the Justice Department that represents the federal government before the high court, told the justices to skip that case even though the FTC had filed the appeal urging the case be heard.
Although the Court did not grant cert in this case, I think it is safe to say that at some point the Court will take a “reverse payment” case.
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