Europe's Competition Commission Hails Large Decrease In Big Pharma's "Pay To Delay" Deals

Do go read the whole European Union Competition Commission/Antitrust Division press release, but here is the very welcome top-line out of the ECC, over the weekend:

. . . .The number of patent settlements in the pharmaceutical sector that are potentially problematic under the European Union's antitrust rules fell to 10% of total patent settlements in the sector in the period July 2008 to December 2009 compared with 22% in the period covered in last year's inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector (January 2000-June 2008). The amount of money involved in the settlements, between the so-called "originator" pharmaceutical companies and producers of generic drugs also appears to have decreased from more than € 200 million recorded in the sector inquiry period to less than € 1 million in the more recent period, shows a Commission report on the monitoring of patent settlements. This would suggest an increased awareness of the industry of which settlement agreements might attract competition law scrutiny. It is good news for consumers that cheaper generic drugs are not being unduly kept out or delayed into the market. At the same time, the overall number of patent settlements shows that the Commission's heightened scrutiny of the sector has not hindered out-of-court settlement of litigation. The Commission will continue monitoring the sector to make sure that the settlements in the sector are not delaying entry of generics in the market or do not contain other restrictions that would be problematic under EU competition law. . . .

While it seems there may be some latent-politicking underway here, the trendline is plainly encouraging -- and presumably beyond serious dispute. The Pharma "Pay to Delay Game" is ending -- in most of developed Europe. Merck's European operations were among those probed in 2009, and early 2010, as part of the inquiries mentioned in the above press release, for the record.