1-Hour Program

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Overview

The Federal Trade Commission and private plaintiffs regularly challenge settlements of patent litigation in the pharmaceutical industry under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis which held that so-called “reverse payments,” where large and unjustified, may be illegal under the antitrust “rule of reason.” 

Antitrust challenges have led to huge payouts, with Teva agreeing last year to pay $1.2 billion to compensate purchasers of its sleep disorder drug Provigil, underscoring the impact these issues can have on pharmaceutical companies’ bottom lines.  

Howard Morse, who chairs Cooley LLP’s Antitrust & Competition Group, and his colleague, Megan Browdie, will explore the current state of the law, what agreements are “safe,” and what agreements present antitrust risk for companies looking to settle patent infringement litigation.  

Topics to be addressed include: 

  • The unique requirement to notify agreements in the pharmaceutical industry under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) Medicare Modernization Act (MMA)
  • What lower court have said about whether Actavis applies to noncash payments and what constitutes a large and unjustified reverse payments 
  • Recent FTC enforcement actions and priorities
  • Strategies companies may use to reduce antitrust risk in settling patent litigation
Industries

Credit Details