Drug Firms' Deals Allowing Exclusivity(Big Pharma Blocking Generics)

[RedEarth]

Brand-name drug companies have resumed the practice of slowing the sale of cheaper generic competitors by cutting deals that result in paying millions of dollars to makers of generic drugs while consumers continue to pay brand-name prices.

The agreements follow two federal appeals court rulings last year that rejected Federal Trade Commission actions that since the late 1990s had prevented brand-name companies from paying their rivals to drop patent challenges.

An FTC analysis found at least seven such agreements so far in fiscal 2006, with three in 2005. Before that, no generic companies had been paid to drop their patent challenges for years.

Speaking yesterday in Philadelphia, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said that if the appeals court decisions remain in force, rival drugmakers will have "carte blanche to avoid competition and share resulting profits." He said the commission had agreed to ask the Supreme Court to overturn one of the lower-court decisions.

"Until recently, payments by brand-name companies to generics were the exception, but now they're the rule," he said in an interview after his speech. "They appear to be a new way to do business, and that's very troubling. Hopefully the Supreme Court will take our case and reverse."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/24/AR2006042401508_pf.html

[Warpy]

1. Yeah, and they've kept generics off the markets, sometimes for years,

by launching nuisance lawsuit after nuisance lawsuit against generics manufacturers, driving up the price of the generic once it hits the market as well as delyaing the whole business.

The most egregious example is Prilosec. They stalled the generic for four years while they pissed and moaned about every little thing from the size of the delayed release beads in the capsule to the color of the capsule to the name. When the generic finally came out, Astra Zeneca was then ready with a slightly different but patentable Nexium and agitated to get Prilosec OTC.

I don't think there's a generic manufacturer left. Brand name Prilosec was $120 at my pharmacy; the generic was $95.

Big Pill is the enemy, not our friend. I hope a Democratic Congress manages to tackle them, to either cap their profits, end their ability to advertise to patients, or shorten their patent life.

The average pill is paid off within 5 years. The patent runs for 17.

[cantstandbush]

2. Nasty little axis: NIH-Med Schools-Pharmaceutical companies.

If folks only knew. Hell, if folks only CARED!!

[jwirr]

3. It is interesting that they are NOW pushing this as Medicare,

Medicaid and *ss's new drug program move to make the generics cheaper by charging lower co-pays for their use. The program's goal is to encourage more use of generics. I have a feeling that the drug bitches/bosses have finally figured out that a good share of their profits come from the very programs that *ss is trying to get rid of.