FTC Resources for Reporters
Pay-for-Delay: When Drug Companies Agree Not to Compete
One of the FTC’s top priorities in recent years has been to oppose a costly legal tactic that more and more branded drug manufacturers have been using to stifle competition from lower-cost generic medicines. These drug makers have been able to sidestep competition by offering patent settlements that pay generic companies not to bring lower-cost alternatives to market. These “pay-for-delay” patent settlements effectively block all other generic drug competition for a growing number of branded drugs. According to an FTC study, these anticompetitive deals cost consumers and taxpayers $3.5 billion in higher drug costs every year. Since 2001, the FTC has filed a number of lawsuits to stop these deals, and it supports legislation to end such “pay-for-delay” settlements.
News Releases:
- FTC Seeks U.S. Supreme Court Review in AndroGel "Pay-for-Delay" Case - 10/04/12
- FTC Files Amicus Brief Explaining That "No-AG" Agreements Are Used by Drug Companies to Delay Generic Competition - 08/13/12
- Statement by Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Ruling in the K-Dur 20 Matter - 07/16/12
- FTC Study Finds that in FY 2011, Pharmaceutical Industry Continued to Make Numerous Business Deals that Delay Consumers’ Access to Lower-Cost Generic Drugs - 10/25/11
- FTC Report Examines How Authorized Generics Affect the Pharmaceutical Market - 08/31/2011
- FTC Files Amicus Brief in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in K-Dur Antitrust Litigation Urging Reversal of Pay-for-Delay Ruling - 5/24/2011
- FTC Staff Finds Sanofi-Aventis, Watson Pharmaceuticals, and Synthon Holding B.V. Failed to Report Drug Patent Agreements as Required by Law - 5/10/2011
- FTC Staff Report Finds 60 Percent Increase in Pharmaceutical Industry Deals That Delay Consumers' Access to Lower-Cost Generic Drugs - 5/30/2011
- FTC Files Amicus Brief in Support of Rehearing of Ciprofloxacin "Pay-for-Delay" Case - 5/25/2010
- FTC Chairman, Members of Congress Call for Legislation to End Sweetheart “Pay-for-Delay” Deals That Keep Generic Drugs Off the Market - 11/13/2010
- FTC Issues Interim Report on "Authorized Generic" Drugs - 6/24/2009
- FTC Sues Drug Companies for Unlawfully Conspiring to Delay the Sale of Generic AndroGel Until 2015 - 2/2/2009
- FTC Sues Cephalon, Inc. for Unlawfully Blocking Sale of Lower-Cost Generic Versions of Branded Drug Until 2012 - 4/13/2008
Documents:
Reports and Workshops:
Business Education:
Congressional Testimony:
- Antitrust Enforcement in the Health Care Industry – 12/1/2010
- Prepared Statement Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy – 7/27/2010
- Anticompetitive Pay-for-Delay Settlements in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Why Consumers and the Federal Government Are Paying Too Much for Prescription Drugs – 6/3/2009
- How Pay-for-Delay Settlements Make Consumers and the Federal Government Pay More for Much Needed Drugs – 3/31/2009
Consumer Education:
Statements:
