In Federal Trade Commission v. Ovation Pharmaceuticals Inc., and State of Minnesota v. Lundbeck Inc.,a Minnesota District Court Judge Joan N. Ericksen denied Lundbeck Inc.’s attempt to toss out the pair of suits launched by the FTC and the state of Minnesota, accusing the drug-maker of jacking up the price of NeoProfen, a drug used to treat […]
Category Archives: Federal Trade Commission
FCC to Investigate Apple over Google Exclusion
August 7, 2009 – 1:34 pm
The FTC will investigate Apple’s decision to block a Google voice application for the iPhone. The FTC is concerned that the decision may be an outgrowth of Apple’s exclusive agreement with AT&T to provide phone service with the iPhone, and thus Apple’s decision may be intended to prevent competition between Google and AT&T.
Enforcement Agencies Continue to Challenge Patent Infringement Reverse Payments
August 1, 2009 – 12:15 pm
Update August 2009: The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved a bill banning reverse payment settlements and granting the FTC authority to oversee settlements. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate. The FTC and the state of California have filed suit challenging reverse payment settlements of patent disputes involving the testosterone supplement AndroGel. The […]
Whole Foods Merger: Market Definition & Marginal Consumers
June 1, 2009 – 2:50 pm
Update June 2009: The FTC has granted final approval to the proposed settlement. Update March 2009: The parties have reached a settlement allowing the merger to move forward with Whole Foods agreeing to divest the intellectual property in the Wild Oats brand, 13 stores, and the leases and assests of 19 closed stores. A divestiture […]
Bristol-Meyers Agrees to Fine for Concealing Settlement Information
April 10, 2009 – 2:58 pm
Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co. has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle an FTC claim against it for violating court orders stemming from two earlier antitrust cases. The FTC alleged that Bristol-Meyers issued misleading compliance reports and concealed material information about a proposed 2006 settlement deal with Apotex Corp. to keep a copycat version of the drug Plavix, […]
FTC Settles With Physicians Groups for Refusing to Deal with Insurers
January 12, 2009 – 6:38 pm
The FTC has settled claims with two physicians groups that were alleged to have threatened on behalf of groups of physicians to refuse to deal with certain insurance companies unless they raised their fees paid to doctors.
FTC Challenges Drug Acquisitions
January 4, 2009 – 3:27 pm
The FTC, along with the state of Minnesota, has sued Ovation Pharmaceuticals, arguing that the drug company acted anticompetitively in aquiring over the course of several months in 2005 and 2006 the only two drugs available in the US to treat a certain congenital heart defects. It acquired Indocin in August 2005, while a potentially competitive drug, […]
Court Certifies Class in Heart Drug Patent Case
January 4, 2009 – 1:13 pm
Judge Joseph Greenaway, US District Court for the District of New Jersey, in In re: K-Dur Antitrust Litigation has certified a class of direct purchasers of the Schering-Plough drug K-Dur 20. The case alleges that Schering improperly delayed the introduction of a generic version of the drug by making settlement payments to competitors that had filed abbrevieated […]
Proposed Environmental Services Merger Pulled in Light of FTC Opposition
December 1, 2008 – 3:40 pm
CCS Corp. agreed to abandon its plan to acquire Newport Resources Environmental services business. Although the company maintained that the acquisition of the business providing environmental services to off-shore oil and gas providers was not anticompetitive, it did not wish to engage in a protracted court battle. Prior Post: The FTC has sought a temporary […]
FTC Sues to Block Off-Shore Oil Waste Disposal Acquisition
October 28, 2008 – 2:43 pm
The FTC has sought a temporary restraining order in the Southern District of Texas to block the acquisition of Newpark Environmental Services by CCS Corp. while proceeding before the FTC go forward. Both companies provide waste disposal services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The FTC claims that the companies are close competitors and […]