The US FTC concludes that a pharma company entered into an illegal pay-for-delay agreement (Endo / Impax)

On March 28, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (the “Commission”) issued a landmark opinion in the agency’s case against Impax Laboratories Inc. regarding its patent settlement with Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., marking the first time that the Commission has weighed in on the proper application of the Supreme Court’s Actavis antitrust evaluation framework for “reverse payment” settlements. [1] Highlighting multiple Actavis “red flags,” the Commission concluded that the settlement raised the precise antitrust concerns that led the Supreme Court to subject these types of agreements to antitrust scrutiny, which provided guidance to lower courts confronting these challenging and nuanced issues in future cases. Factual Background Endo received FDA approval and launched Opana ER in 2006. In