EU pharma patent settlement levels still healthy, says European Commission
Seventy-six patent settlements were concluded between originator and generic companies in the EU pharmaceutical sector in 2014
The European Commission (EC) has noted that while the number of patent settlements in the European Union (EU) pharmaceutical sector declined in 2014, it is still optimistic that such deals will be used to avoid legal action in future.
In its report, the EC says that 76 patent settlements were concluded between originator and generic companies in the EU pharmaceutical sector in 2014. This is far below the 183 in 2012 and 146 in 2013, but is still much higher than the annual average of 24 between 2000 and 2008.
This indicates that the Commission’s monitoring of such deals for potential breaches to EU competition law 'has not hindered companies from concluding settlements in general', argued the Commission. It added that the number of settlements that risk breaking such anti-trust legislation remain low 'shows the industry's continued ability to effectively settle patent disputes in ways that raise no antitrust concerns'.
Portugal accounts for the largest number of settlements (35), largely because of a national law that tells originator companies to initiate arbitration proceedings within 30 days of a generic company marketing authorisation, if it wants to maintain its original patent rights.
Other significant users of these negotiations in 2014 were Spain (14); Germany (12); Italy (10); Austria (10); Finland (9); and France (9). Malta (3); Hungary (4); and Estonia (4); had the least. Britain had eight such cases settled in 2014, the same number as Greece.
Smaller and poorer EU member states in eastern, central and southern Europe, tended to have fewer patent settlements than larger member states which joined the EU in the 20th century.