Pharma industry attacked over patent strategies (full version)
01 December 2008
Managing Intellectual Property
The pharmaceutical industry has rejected criticisms, made in an EU report released last week, that it uses patents to block generic competition
The pharmaceutical industry has rejected criticisms, made in an EU report released last week, that it uses patents to block generic competition
The preliminary report, published on Friday, says that competition in the pharmaceutical industry does not work as well as it should.
In particular, it accuses originator pharmaceutical companies of delaying or blocking generic companies from the market.
The report says that originator pharmaceutical companies: file multiple patents for the same invention (patent clusters); initiate expensive litigation with generics (where generics win more than 60% of cases); and conclude settlements (more than 10% of which include reverse payments, in which originator companies pay generics not to produce, totalling more than €200 million).
Launching the 450-page report, competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said: “These preliminary results show that market entry of generic companies and the development of new and more affordable medicines is sometimes blocked or delayed, at significant cost...
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