The number of "potentially anticompetitive" deals between U.S. designer drug and generic drug companies rose significantly in 2012 compared to 2011, a new Federal Trade Commission report reveals. 40 during the year that has just ended, against 28 in the previous year.
And this is the largest amount since the FTC began collecting data in 2003. In nearly half of the cases (19), "brands may have promised not to develop or market an authorized generic as long as companies of equivalent do not market a competing product".
Overall, the deals reached in 2012 involved 31 different brand-name medicines with annual US sales of more than $8.3 billion. The FTC chairman, Jon Leibowitz, said that "unfortunately, this year's report makes it clear that the problem of 'pay-for-delay' agreements is getting worse, not better".
Leibowitz added that "more and more pharmaceutical companies are involved in these agreements and consumers continue to pay the price." Ralph Neas, chief executive officer of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, said in response to the FTC's report that the agency "continues to perpetuate the myth that these deals are bad for consumers.
An unfounded position that has not received the support of either Congress or the courts. They have never prevented competition and have led to lowering the cost of generics and making them available even years before a patent expires."
Barbara Di Chiara – 22 January 2013 – PharmaKronos
