Product Switching in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Ripe for Antitrust Scrutiny?

Abstract

Since the Hatch-Waxman Act was enacted in 1984, generic drug companies have benefited from its provisions to facilitate approval of generic alternatives to brand-name pharmaceuticals. Upon generic entry, consumers of prescription drugs benefit from large discounts as brand manufacturers lose significant market share to these lower-priced alternatives. Over time, brand-name drug manufacturers have undertaken strategies, such as ‘product switching’ or ‘product hopping’, that may delay or prevent generic entry and protect their market share. Generic drug manufacturers, drug purchasers and antitrust authorities have begun looking to the antitrust laws to address these strategies and their impact on generic entry. This article discusses the regulatory framework under which pharmaceutical companies introduce new drugs, two prominent cases in which courts have wrestled with whether product switching violates the antitrust laws, factors that might support an antitrust claim for product switching, and the FTC's interest in challenging product switching.