Washington Post Calls For End To Brand-Name Drug Makers' Deals To Delay Generics.

In advance of a forthcoming Federal Trade Commission report that will identify 28 patent litigation cases that "bear the telltale signs of pay-for-delay," the Washington Post  (10/25) editorializes that brand-name pharmaceutical makers "continue to cut questionable deals with generic manufacturers that delay the introduction of cheaper drugs onto the market." Such deals "hurt consumers and increase costs for federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid," the Post says the FTC will report, and the paper notes that they "are not illegal, but they should be." Pay-to-delay undermines the goals of the Hatch-Waxman Act of promoting generics, the Post editors state, endorsing the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act offered by Sens. Grassley and Kohl to outlaw the practice, observing that it "should appeal to the deficit-reduction 'supercommittee,' which has been tasked with identifying ways to cut the federal deficit."