The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to reconsider en banc its holding that the antitrust laws are not violated when drug patent holders pay manufacturers of generic alternatives to keep competing products off the market.
The active members of the circuit issued a brief ruling Tuesday saying they had voted to deny rehearing en banc the case of Arkansas Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund v. Bayer AG, 05-2851-cv, in which a three-judge panel in April affirmed summary judgment for Bayer AG on a Sherman Act challenge concerning a so-called “pay-for-delay” agreement involving the antibiotic drug Cipro.
