Pfizer and Merck Ask to Keep Patent Deals Secret

Cephalon needs info on other drugmaker's patent settlements while Pfizer and Merck say NO to the request for patent-settlement documents.

About 37 drugmakers including Pfizer and Merck are possibly roped in to face an antitrust fight between the Federal Trade Commission and drugmaker Cephalon. Cephalon wants access to currently confidential documents about the other pharma companies' patent settlements with generics firms. Pfizer, Merck, et al., say, "No way."

The document request comes in an ongoing lawsuit between Cephalon and the FTC over the company's $200 million worth of patent settlements with generics firms. The FTC claims those payments are keeping copycat versions of Provigil, Cephalon's narcolepsy drug, off the market for too long, and are anticompetitive.

In its defense, Cephalon says it needs info on other drugmakers