Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14864

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Jack A.
Legal tactics to delay launch of generic drugs cost Europe 3bn, report says
BMJ 2008 Dec 1; 337:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/337/dec01_2/a2817

Abstract:

Drug companies are bracing themselves for the launch of a series of antitrust investigations in Europe after the European Commission published a highly critical report on industry practices.

The 426 page preliminary report by the commission’s Competition Directorate, which is to be followed by a final version next spring, highlights widespread legal tactics by drug companies to defend their patents. The commission says that such tactics have delayed the entry of cheaper generic drugs, at a cost of 3bn (£2.5bn; $3.8bn) since the start of the decade.

It cites instances of companies starting litigation to hold up competing products, filing multiple patent applications for the same drug, and reaching out-of-court settlements with manufacturers of generic drugs to stop them entering the market.

In one “patent clustering” case a company filed 1300 patents for a single drug. An internal document quoted in the commission’s report said: “We identify options to obtain . . .