This short article summarizes FTC v. Actavis, the first case in which the Supreme Court analyzed the antitrust legality of agreements by which brand-name drug companies pay generics to settle patent litigation and delay entering the market. It concludes that the ruling must be counted as a win...

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 holding in FTC v. Actavis, Inc. that antitrust liability can attach to reverse payment patent settlements, courts have diverged about how to determine whether private parties who prove that such an agreement violates antitrust law are entitled to any...

Pharmaceutical antitrust law is hard. When drug companies delay generic entry, is that beneficial “life-cycle management”? Or is it unjustified anti-competitive behavior? The question arises in multiple settings, including patent settlements by which brand firms pay generics to delay...

The pharmaceutical industry is unique in its complexity. Markets are nuanced. Multiple regulatory regimes apply. Generic entry is an event with dramatic consequences. These characteristics have encouraged brand-name drug firms to engage in an array of conduct that exploits this complexity to...

As CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli made worldwide headlines by obtaining marketing rights to pyrimethamine (Daraprim) and quickly increasing the price 5000 percent, from $13.50 to $750 per pill. In addition to increasing price, Turing initiated another less widely appreciated move...

Rising drug prices are in the news. By increasing price, drug companies have placed vital, even life-saving, medicines out of the reach of consumers. In a recent development, brand firms have prevented generics even from entering the market. The ruse for this strategy involves risk-management...

Since the Supreme Court's decision in FTC v. Actavis, the question that has received the most attention is whether “payment” is limited to cash or encompasses non-cash forms of consideration. The courts, including the Third Circuit in the “King Drug” case, have consistently held that...

Competition is the key to low prices in the pharmaceutical industry. For decades, Americans have benefited from affordable generic versions of brand-name drugs. But now, we stand poised on the wave of a revolution. Biologics, which include lifesaving cancer-treating drugs, can cost hundreds of...