King & Spalding’s antitrust lawyers provide customized and solution-oriented advice to pharmaceutical companies on all aspects of global antitrust law, from mergers, acquisitions and other transactions, to civil and criminal litigation, to counseling on sales practices. Recognized by Chambers USA as “a sharp, practical, business-oriented group” who provide “a great mix of theory and practicality,” our antitrust lawyers have also have been singled out by The American Lawyer and The Best Lawyers in America, among others, as a result of the consistently comprehensive antitrust counsel that we continue to provide our clients.
Firsthand Antitrust Agency Knowledge
Our expertise in the pharmaceutical industry includes antitrust litigation before trial and appellate courts – including the U.S. Supreme Court – on issues ranging from the settlement of patent litigation between brand and generic companies to international cartel investigations.
Several of our antitrust lawyers have served in significant positions within the U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies, such as a former Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, a deputy assistant attorney general for criminal enforcement at the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, as well as other Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission alumni, including a former staff attorney from the FTC division that reviews pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions. This firsthand knowledge and understanding of how enforcement agencies work has helped us obtain favorable results for many of our pharmaceutical clients.
For example, in the largest cartel investigation in antitrust history, our client was one of a limited number of defendants who were able to avoid criminal charges and was the only defendant to win a summary judgment decision that excluded our client from the vast majority of civil liability.
King & Spalding’s antitrust lawyers are equally skilled at planning and implementing strategies to gain U.S. and international antitrust approval for pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions. We have advised pharmaceutical clients on joint ventures and strategic alliances to ensure their compliance with U.S. and international antitrust laws, and we regularly appear before all key competition authorities, including the FTC, the DOJ, the state attorneys general and the European Commission.
Pharmaceutical clients also turn to us for counseling on a variety of antitrust issues, such as benchmarking, distribution, marketing, pricing and trade association participation. Pharmaceutical clients seek our counsel regarding licensing practices, especially those that include antitrust issues arising from authorized generics and the settlement of patent claims between branded and generic drug makers. In these instances, we assist clients on their filings of notification with the DOJ and FTC pursuant to the Medicare Modernization Act. We also routinely provide antitrust compliance and training programs to in-house counsel and business clients.
Partnership is Key
A hallmark of our antitrust pharmaceutical service is our dedication to partnering with in-house counsel on all matters. The result is a deeper and more intuitive understanding of each client’s business and legal needs and, ultimately, solutions that are cost-effective and efficient.
On pharmaceutical matters, our antitrust lawyers collaborate with members of King & Spalding’s nationally recognized FDA & Life Sciences group, leveraging this comprehensive understanding of the products and markets involved.
