Leibowitz on “Reverse Payment” Settlements
It must be “reverse payment” week as FTC Chairman Leibowitz gave a speech this morning on the topic. The FTC press release states that:
an internal FTC analysis projects that stopping collusive “pay-for-delay” settlements between brand and generic pharmaceutical firms would save consumers $3.5 billion a year and also reap significant savings for the federal government, which pays approximately one-third of all prescription drug costs. Chairman Leibowitz urged Congress to pass pending legislation to ban or restrict such anticompetitive patent settlements, in which manufacturers of brand-name drugs pay potential generic competitors to stay out of the market, as a way to control prescription drug costs, restore the benefits of generic competition, and help pay for health care reform.








