Drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $1.2 billion to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that a company it acquired stalled generic versions of its popular sleep-disorder drug Provigil from entering the market.
The settlement, which still must be approved by a judge, is the first in an FTC case over so-called “pay-for-delay” since a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2013 made it easier to challenge the tactic under federal antitrust law.
In pay-for-delay cases, brand-name drugmakers pay settlements to generic drugmakers, in patent disputes, to keep cheaper generic drugs off the market.
The FTC alleged that Cephalon, which was purchased by Teva in 2012, sued four generic drug manufacturers for patent infringement, and then, in 2005 and 2006, collectively paid them more than $300 million to settle the patent challenges and keep their generics off the market for six years.
