Drug firms cooperate in FTC probe

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi-Aventis said Tuesday that they were cooperating with demands from U.S. antitrust regulators for documents related to an unsuccessful bid last year to delay generic competition to the blood thinner Plavix.

The Federal Trade Commission served the drug makers last month with formal requests for records. The documents are related to a failed settlement that the companies made with a Canadian generic-drug maker to stall sales of cheaper, copycat pills, Bristol-Myers and Sanofi said in regulatory filings.

The agency could seek fines of $11,000 a day for each violation plus other amounts from Bristol-Myers and Sanofi. Regulators also might settle for a consent order to ensure future compliance with the law, such as the one that Bristol-Myers signed in 2003. That decree enabled state attorneys general to block the agreement with the Canadian drug maker, Apotex Inc.

“The focus of the FTC investigation is probably on whether they violated the consent order,” said David Balto, an antitrust lawyer in Washington who worked nine years for the FTC and six for the Justice Department. “Even if they didn’t go through with the agreement, certain aspects could have had anticompetitive effects.”

The FTC previously said it was looking into other drug company settlements that delay generic competition in return for money or other compensation to a maker of cheaper drug copies. Congress, meanwhile, is considering a measure that would outlaw certain types of agreements.

An FTC spokesman, Mitch Katz, confirmed that civil investigative demands, which act like subpoenas, were issued. He otherwise declined to comment on the investigation.

Shares of New York-based Bristol-Myers fell 6 cents to $27.54 on Tuesday. Paris-based Sanofi’s U.S.-traded shares rose 12 cents to $43.35.

The agreement with Apotex triggered multiple probes by legal authorities. In February, a federal prosecutor in New Jersey said Bristol-Myers didn’t violate securities laws in trying to delay generic Plavix. A separate criminal antitrust investigation by the Justice Department is pending.

The bungled deal also led to the ouster of Bristol-Myers Chief Executive Peter Dolan in September and prompted speculation that the company might be for sale.

Bristol-Myers and Sanofi will cooperate with the FTC and Justice Department investigations, the firms said in statements.

Sanofi owns the patent on Plavix and Bristol-Myers sells it in the U.S.