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On Hatch-Waxman settlements

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

FoxNews reports on the settlement of a Hatch-Waxman case between Orion and Wockhardt:

Orion Corporation ("Orion") and Wockhardt USA, LLC and Wockhardt Limited (together "Wockhardt") today [April 29] announce that they have executed a settlement agreement on lawsuits filed by Orion in the United States against Wockhardt regarding Wockhardt's submission of abbreviated new drug applications ("ANDAs") for generic versions of Orion's Comtan(R: 25.3401, 0, 0%) and Stalevo(R: 25.3401, 0, 0%) products. Comtan is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease as an adjunct to levodopa/carbidopa therapy. Stalevo is a combination of carbidopa, levodopa and entacapone for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Both products contain entacapone, a COMT enzyme inhibiting agent originated and patented by Orion.

One notes: Wockhardt will be able to launch generic versions of Comtan and Stalevo on 30 September 2012, or possibly even earlier, subject to certain conditions. The parties have agreed that Orion will supply said generic product versions to Wockhardt.

At the PatentHawk blog, Gary Odom writes on the CIPRO case:

Stanford law professor Mark Lemley has penned a petition to the Supreme Court, to lay the burden of overturning reverse payments before the august body, this nation's numero uno woolly bully. Lemley thinks the CAFC ruling "contains fundamental errors of economic reasoning and would shield many anti-competitive agreements from the reach of antitrust law, causing great harm to competition."

The question begged:

Whether an agreement by a patent owner to pay a potential competitor not to enter the market is illegal per se....

Lemley joins himself with the self-interest group The Academic Amici, and their fellow travelers: the American Antitrust Institute, the rabidly anti-patent Public Patent Foundation, and the drug-swilling geezerhood AARP, who fight for cheap drugs at any cost, however oxymoronic. As Lemley staked it out, "AARP has a long history of advocating for access to affordable health care and for controlling costs without compromising quality." Essentially, an old folks socialist society. Don't get me wrong - that's an approbation.

This is rich. Lemley claims the "Amici have no stake in the outcome of this case." Bragging rights means nothing to the boy. Right.

Full post as published by IPBiz on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).