Copyright 2000 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
THE ARIZONA
REPUBLIC
October 12, 2000 Thursday, Final Chaser
SECTION: BUSINESS & MONEY; Pg. D1
LENGTH: 313 words
HEADLINE:
DRUG FIRM COLLUSION SUSPECTED
BYLINE: Bloomberg News
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
-- Brand-name and generic drugmakers will be investigated to determine
whether they collude to delay the sale of less expensive medications, the
Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.
The FTC said it will study the
industry to follow up its complaints that Aventis SA and Abbott Laboratories
conspired with generic drugmakers to delay the introduction of low-cost
alternatives that compete with brand-name products.
"The goal of this
study would be to continue the commission's look at the business relationships
between brand-name and generic drug manufacturers," FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky
said in a statement. The purpose is to ensure that availability of low-cost
drugs "is not impeded in ways that are anti-competitive."
The FTC said
it will examine whether drug companies have manipulated the provisions of the
Hatch-Waxman Act to delay the marketing of generic brands in
competition with patent-protected brand-name drugs. The 1994 law allows generic
drugmakers to seek Food and Drug Administration approval of a generic version of
a medication before the expiration of the patent on the brand-name drug.
Although the law is intended to give brand-name drugmakers patent
protection, the FTC has charged in two cases that the law was abused to squelch
competition from less-expensive generic versions of brand names.
In
March, the FTC charged that Aventis SA and Andrx Corp. manipulated drug-approval
procedures to delay the release of a generic alternative to Aventis' popular
heart drug Cardizem CD. The charge that Aventis paid Andrx $90 million to delay
marketing of its drug is pending before an FTC administrative law judge.
At the same time, the FTC settled charges that Novartis AG's Geneva
Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Abbott Laboratories colluded to keep a low-price
alternative to Abbott's Hytrin hypertension and prostate drug off the market.
LOAD-DATE: October 31, 2000
