Win for FTC in pay-for-delay fight
The Federal Trade Commission scored a victory on Monday in its long-running battle against payments from brand-name drug manufacturers to their generic counterparts. A federal judge in Philadelphia denied Cephalon Inc.’s request to dismiss antitrust suits brought by the FTC and others over its sleep disorder drug Provigil. The company paid four generic drug makers about $200 million to settle patent litigation; the generic firms agreed to refrain from offering a generic version of Provigil until 2012. “Today’s decision seems to reflect a growing understanding — first in Congress now in the courts — that brand name drug companies must not be allowed to make pay-offs to their generic competitors to keep low-cost generic drugs off the market,” FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.
…And one setback
Separately, a federal judge in Ohio dismissed a lawsuit filed by several pharmacies against Sanofi-Aventis SA and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. over its blood-thinner, Plavix. The companies cut a deal with generic firm Apotex in 2006, but the settlement fell apart and the two parties went to trial. The retail pharmacies sued and argued that the proposed settlement was anti-competitive.
Oracle spent $1.05 million lobbying on Sun deal
Oracle Corp. spent $1.05 million on lobbying in the last three months of 2009, according to the Associated Press, slightly more than the $980,000 it spent in the last quarter of 2008. Part of that money went to lobby Congress on the regulatory review of its $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems. The deal cleared DOJ antitrust scrutiny but was delayed over European concerns. The lobbying seems to have paid off. In November, Sens. John Kerry, Orrin Hatch, and 57 others wrote a letter urging regulators in Brussels to approve the acquisition.
Judge Certifies Class in LCD Antitrust Suit
A federal judge in San Francisco certified a class of direct purchasers in an antitrust lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co., Sharp Corp., and others alleging that the makers of flat-panel screens conspired with each other to fix prices and overcharge their customers. The Justice Department has obtained several fines and pleas in a similar investigation.
