The Fourth Circuit ruled last month that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, which does business as Atrium Health, is immune from antitrust damages as a “special function governmental unit” under the Local...more
On April 13, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its long-anticipated decision in Impax v. FTC, marking the first time an appellate court has weighed in on the merits of a so-called reverse payment case...more
Recent decisions in two different antitrust cases involving price increases and marketing practices for the EpiPen address a relationship solidly embedded in the current architecture of pharmaceutical drug markets: payments...more
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the FTC is suing pharmaceutical manufacturers Endo and Impax over an alleged “reverse payment” agreement to reduce competition in the market for Opana ER, an oxymorphone extended...more
On November 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule to take effect in 2022, which eliminates the safe harbor under the federal anti-kickback statute for manufacturer rebates to Medicare...more
On June 9, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral argument in Impax Laboratories, Inc., Etc. v. Federal Trade Commission. The appeal by pharmaceutical manufacturer Impax marks the first time a...more
Yesterday we discussed 2019’s most significant developments in challenges to reverse-payment settlements. Today we continue our analysis of recent trends in pharmaceutical antitrust actions with a discussion of cases...more
2019 witnessed a number of developments in challenges to reverse-payment settlements. In its first decision on a pay-for-delay settlement since the Supreme Court’s seminal 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis, the FTC took an...more
Recently, Judge Goldberg in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania certified two classes of plaintiffs asserting antitrust claims based on alleged “product hopping” by the manufacturer of branded tablets treating opioid...more
Though the merger of CVS and Aetna received conditional approval from the DOJ’s Antitrust Division back in October, the road to final approval has been rocky as the court’s exasperation with the parties appears to grow....more
After two hearings over the last week, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District Court for the District of Columbia seems to have put the brakes on the well-publicized merger between health care giants CVS and Aetna. ...more
For several years, the Antitrust Division’s investigations have been increasingly global in scope. Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch made clear that trend will continue in remarks at a conference on...more
The Third Circuit recently affirmed the grant of summary judgment to GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) in the nearly 10-year-old Wellbutrin XL Antitrust Litigation, which challenged the lawfulness of settlement agreements resolving...more
8/25/2017
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Generic Drugs ,
GlaxoSmithKline ,
Hatch-Waxman ,
Patent Infringement ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Popular ,
Reverse Payment Settlement Agreements ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sham Litigation Exception ,
Sherman Act
“But what is more common than exclusive dealing?” Affirming summary judgment for defendant Saint Francis Medical Center, the Seventh Circuit recently held that the hospital’s contracts with health care insurers—though...more
This week, the Second Circuit affirmed the approval of a $50 million agreement settling price-fixing claims brought by a class of farmers against a dairy cooperative and a dairy marketing company. The settlement in Allen et...more
What does to take to state a claim under Section 2 of the Sherman Act for refusal to deal? Last week’s decision in Viamedia, Inc. v. Comcast Corp. and Comcast Spotlight, LP, a case out of the Northern District of Illinois,...more
Manufacturers of containerboard and corrugated products have asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on a Circuit split concerning the impact of negotiated prices on class certification in antitrust cases brought under Section 1...more
How explicitly must a complaint sounding in antitrust allege causation? At oral argument last week, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit evaluated the sufficiency of the plaintiffs’ allegations that certain Takeda...more
9/23/2016
/ Actos ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Causation ,
Dismissals ,
False Evidence ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pleading Standards ,
Product Exclusivity ,
Takeda Pharmaceuticals ,
Twombly/Iqbal Pleading Standard
Forced to choose between the competing concerns of international comity and United States antitrust law in In re: Vitamin C Antitrust Litigation, a unanimous panel of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided this...more
9/22/2016
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Appeals ,
China ,
Comity ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
International Litigation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Jury Verdicts ,
MInistry of Commerce ,
Reversal ,
Vacated
What facts beyond mere membership in a trade association trigger Sherman Act liability? Next term, the Supreme Court will hear an antitrust case testing the requirements for pleading the conspiracy element of a claim brought...more
Certifying a class of direct purchasers of sheet metal parts alleging claims under section 1 of the Sherman Act, Judge Lynn Adelman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin focused on what it...more
7/5/2016
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Auto Parts ,
Bargaining Power ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Commonality ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Price-Fixing ,
Restraint of Trade ,
Sherman Act ,
Typicality ,
Young Lawyers
It is plausible that Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, may have violated antitrust law by fixing prices charged to Uber passengers, a judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York concluded last...more
Yesterday, Staples closed its defense in the case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block the Staples-Office Depot merger—without calling any witnesses. (We covered the first week of the trial here.) Judge...more
On November 25, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the $156 million antitrust judgment in MM Steel, L.P. v. JSW Steel (USA) Incorporated; Nucor Corporation, upholding a jury verdict that found one...more