The antitrust analysis of product hopping is nuanced. The conduct, which consists of a drug company's reformulation of its product and encouragement of doctors to switch prescriptions to the reformulated product, sits at the intersection of antitrust law, patent law, the Hatch-Waxman Act, and...

The Supreme Court's decision in FTC v. Actavis has justly received widespread attention for its antitrust analysis of settlements by which brand-name drug companies pay generics to delay entering the market. Much of the attention has focused on the application of the Court's standard and the...

A company collects more than 100 patents on a drug. It then aggressively asserts this “patent thicket” and enters into settlements with each of the competitors that could enter the market, paying them to delay their entry for years. The company admits that its strategy is to “make it more...

Consumers suffer from high drug prices, which stem in large part from pharmaceutical companies’ anticompetitive games. This essay discusses the crucial role antitrust enforcement agencies can play in addressing pay-for-delay settlements and product hopping and draws lessons from this...

The generic industry lobby, Association for Accessible Medicines (“AAM”), often represents the public interest. In the pharmaceutical industry, it challenges brand drug companies' anti-competitive conduct. It fights for lower prices for consumers. And it has built up goodwill for its work in...

In my testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I explained the benefits of legislation addressing anticompetitive conduct that brand-name drug companies have employed: sample denials, pay-for-delay settlements, citizen petitions, product hopping, and patent thickets. By increasing generic...

High drug prices are in the news. In some cases, such as AIDS-treating Daraprim and the life-saving EpiPen, the price increases dramatically. In other cases, which have received less attention, the price stays high longer than it should. Either way, anticompetitive behavior often lurks behind...

FTC v. Actavis was one of the most important antitrust cases of the modern era. In one fell swoop, the Supreme Court ensconced antitrust's role in analyzing settlements by which brand firms pay generics to delay entering the market. The Court underscored the harms presented by large and...