pay-for-delay
a settlement where a brand manufacturer compensates a generic maker to stay off the market — every refill during the delay is bought at brand prices.
drug pricing stories usually happen far above your pharmacy receipt. this is one mechanism that reaches it directly.
what it is
Generic makers challenge drug patents; brands sometimes settle with terms that keep the generic off the market for a period. Regulators call the contested version pay-for-delay: value flowing to the generic company in exchange for delayed competition. The Supreme Court held in 2013 (FTC v. Actavis) that such deals can violate antitrust law, judged case by case.
the psychiatric example
Our venlafaxine page carries it: claims that generic Effexor XR was delayed from 2008 to 2010, settled by Wyeth/Pfizer and Teva for a combined ~$67 million with no adjudication of liability. Settled, not proven — and the mechanism matters more than the outcome: when generics are delayed, the people refilling prescriptions pay the difference.
somewhere to put it
free. anonymous. people who’ve been where you are 🤍
get Resolv Social — it’s freewant the deeper story? read prescribed to fail
questions
is pay-for-delay illegal?
It can be — since FTC v. Actavis (2013), these settlements are tested under antitrust law case by case. Many end, like Effexor XR's, in settlements with no liability finding.
who gets the settlement money?
The purchasers who sued — wholesalers, insurers, and consumer classes — minus litigation costs. Individual class members typically see small amounts.
keep reading
more from the glossary
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