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How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

Pharmaceutical patent holders beware: Over the past year, antitrust enforcers have taken a more aggressive approach challenging Orange Book listings as an anticompetitive practice. According to the Federal Trade Commission, improperly listing patents in the Orange Book constitutes an unfair method of competition, among other violations.

In this article, Elai Katz, Lisa Rumin and Betty Zhang discuss the recent heightened scrutiny of Orange Book listings and highlight risks brand manufacturers should be aware of with respect to their Orange Book listing practices. Going forward, brand manufacturers should think proactively and consider carefully documenting their evaluation process and reasoning for listing patents in the Orange Book to satisfy the statutory requirements.

Read the full article.




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THE LATEST: FTC Submits Comment on FDA Guidance Aimed at Deterring Abuse of Citizen Petition Process

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) submitted comments supporting the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) guidance for assessing whether a pharmaceutical company petitioner is misusing the citizen petition process to delay approval of a competing drug.

WHAT HAPPENED:
  • The FDA released revised draft guidance intended to discourage pharmaceutical companies from gaming the citizen petition process.
  • The FTC expressed approval of the considerations the FDA will use to determine whether a petition was submitted to delay or inhibit competition.
  • The considerations the FDA will use include:
    • The petition was submitted unreasonably long after the petitioner learned or knew about the relevant information;
    • The petitioner submitted multiple and/or serial petitions;
    • The petition was submitted close to the expiration date of a known patent or exclusivity;
    • The petition’s scientific positions were unsupported by data or information;
    • The petition was the same or substantially similar to a prior petition to which the FDA had already substantively responded;
    • The petitioner had not commented during other opportunities for input;
    • The petition requested a standard more onerous or rigorous than the standard applicable to the petitioner’s drug product; and
    • Other relevant considerations, including the petitioner’s history with the FDA.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
  • Each of the FTC commissioners testified during Senate confirmation hearings that scrutinizing health care and pharmaceutical companies would remain a top priority of the Commission.
  • The FTC’s support of the FDA guidance appears to be part of a broader agenda to actively pursue sham petitions and discourage attempted abuses that seek to use Noerr-Pennington immunity as a shield in an administrative setting.
    • In 2017, the FTC filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Shire ViroPharma Inc. (Shire) violated antitrust laws through repeated use of sham petitioning.
    • Though the district court dismissed the FTC’s complaint, the FTC has lodged an appeal and appears committed to reining in alleged abuses of the citizen petition process.
    • Going forward, citizen petitions are likely to face even more scrutiny. Under the revised draft guidance, once the FDA determines that a petition was submitted primarily to delay competition, it will refer that determination to the FTC. Potentially anticompetitive petitions will now face two rounds of review by federal regulators.



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Physicians Write Letter to FDA Regarding Biosimilar Naming Concerns

On Thursday, August 14, 2014, several physicians wrote a letter to Commissioner Hamburg of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressing their concerns regarding the naming of biosimilar products in light of the implementation of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA).

Unlike traditional small-molecule prescription drugs, most biologics are complex and are typically made from human or animal materials.  The BPCIA provides an abbreviated licensure pathway for biologics that are demonstrated to be “biosimilar” to or “interchangeable” with an FDA-licensed biologic.  A biologic may be demonstrated to be “biosimilar” if data show that, among other things, the product is “highly similar” to an already-approved biologic.  Unlike “generic” versions of small-molecule prescription drugs, biosimilars are not bioequivalent to their reference biologics.  To date, the FDA has not approved any biosimilar products.

The licensure pathway contemplated by the BPCIA is meant to reduce the time and cost of bringing competing biosimilar products to consumers.  As the FDA begins evaluating the first U.S. applications for the licensing of biosimilars, concerns have arisen as to how approved biosimilars will be named.  In their letter to Commissioner Hamburg, the physicians argued that biosimilars “must have distinguishable nonproprietary names” from their reference biologics.  The physicians wrote that distinct names are needed to avoid confusion: if a biologic and its biosimilars share a common name, physicians may incorrectly assume that the products are approved for all of the same indications, even if the FDA disagrees.  The physicians also argued that unique names for biosimilars will help doctors track adverse events by allowing them to correctly identify what product caused the event.

However, not everyone agrees with the physicians’ position.  On July 1, 2014, a group of pharmacies, insurers and unions wrote a letter to Commission Hamburg asking the FDA to require that biologics and biosimilars share the same name.  This group argued, among other things, that requiring distinct names for biosimilars may slow the uptake of biosimilar products as substitutes for brand-name biologics, thereby limiting significant potential cost savings.




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