In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, new FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez stated that agency staff will re-examine pharmaceutical patent settlement agreements previously filed with the FTC in order to determine if any warrant investigation or challenge in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in FTC v. Actavis, which held that such agreements are subject to rule of reason analysis. Since 2003, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act has required certain pharmaceutical patent settlement agreements to be filed with the FTC. Chairwoman Ramirez also reiterated that challenging these agreements where they are potentially anti-competitive remains a “top priority” of the agency. In addition to Chairwoman Ramirez, six other witnesses offered testimony at the hearing, including the President of the AARP, lawyers, economists, and a law professor. Copies of the testimony and other materials related to the hearing are available on the committee’s website.
For a brief summary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in FTC v. Actavis, please see our earlier post on the decision here.