[Pharm-policy] Dow Jones Newswires: FTC Investigating SmithKline's Top-Selling Paxil

Mon Dec 11 14:16:05 2000

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December 7, 2000

FTC Investigating SmithKline's Top-Selling Paxil
Dow Jones Newswires

By Jerry Guidera
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -- U.S. competition authorities have launched an
investigation into SmithKline Beecham PLC (SBH) to determine if the
British drug giant breached antitrust laws in its campaign to stave off
generic competition to its top-selling antidepressant medication Paxil.

The Federal Trade Commission has a "ongoing investigation of SmithKline
initiated to determine whether SmithKline has engaged in unfair methods
of competition" in violation of antitrust rules "by preventing or
impeding competition" to the drug, according to court documents from an
unrelated litigation that were unsealed Wednesday. The widely used
Paxil, the company's number-one drug, logged sales of $2.11 billion last
year and has registered sharp increases this year.

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The FTC challenged two agreements between generic and brand-name drug
makers that government lawyers alleged led to higher prices for
consumers. The agency filed an administrative complaint against the
former Hoechst AG, now Aventis SA (AVE), and generic drug maker Andrx
Corp. (ADRX), alleging that the European firm had agreed to pay Andrx to
delay bringing to market a cheaper rival of its popular heart drug
Cardizem-CD. The FTC also reached a settlement with Abbott Laboratories
(ABT) and Geneva Pharmaceuticals involving what government lawyers said
was a similar deal to delay generic competition for hypertension
medication Hytrin. Most recently, Pittsburgh-based Mylan Laboratories
Inc. (MYL) agreed last month to a record $135 million fine to settle FTC
charges the drug manufacturer.

Smithkline's U.S.-traded shares fell 3.8% to $63.19 on the news
Wednesday.

-Jerry Guidera, Dow Jones Newswires, 202 862-9275