european commission

The European Commission recently released a report on patent settlement agreements between originator and generic companies in the European pharmaceutical sector which shows a continued low level (7% in 2012) of potentially anti-competitive settlements. The report is the fourth of its kind since the Commission's competition inquiry in the pharmaceutical sector which concluded in July 2009 (see IP/09/1098 and MEMO/09/321), and draws upon the patent settlement agreement results of 53 originator and 66 generic companies.