Pfizer Subsidiary Owes $16M for Excluding Generic Rivals: Chile

A subsidiary of U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. may have gamed Chile’s patent system to artificially extend a monopoly over a best-selling pain relief drug, said the country’s competition authority.

In a document presented to the country’s antitrust court, the Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia (TDLC), June 8, the Fiscalia Nacional Economica (FNE) said GD Searle LLC had misled the country’s patent office in getting a second patent on the active ingredient celecoxib, which came into force right after the first patent’s expiration.

As a result, protection of the drug was extended to 2029, blocking competitors from introducing ...