Statement by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz Regarding Continuing Need for Legislation Banning Illegal Pay-for-Delay Drug Settlements

The Federal Trade Commission will continue working on behalf of Americans who are struggling to pay for their health care. According to our economic estimates, consumers would pocket about $3.5 billion a year if these unconscionable deals were stopped and they had earlier access to generic drugs.

It’s not a question of whether this should happen, but when.

President Obama is strongly behind a legislative provision banning anticompetitive settlements between branded and generic drug companies, and there is growing bipartisan support in the Congress for making such restrictions part of the United States’ national health care policy.