Pharmaceutical Antitrust Complexity

The pharmaceutical industry is unique in its complexity. Markets are nuanced. Multiple regulatory regimes apply. Generic entry is an event with dramatic consequences. These characteristics have encouraged brand-name drug firms to engage in an array of conduct that exploits this complexity to delay generic entry. This essay discusses these issues, focusing on two activities: (1) “product hopping” from one version of a drug to another and (2) settlements by which brands pay generics to delay entry