Here's what happened today :(
US FTC charges two medical firms with price fixing
WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission charged Tuesday that the
only two makers of federally approved laser equipment to correct vision disorders conspired to fix
prices.
The FTC voted 5-0 to bring the charges against VISX Inc (VISX - news) of Santa Clara, Calif., and
Summit Technology Inc (BEAM - news) of Waltham, Mass.
The FTC alleged that the two companies would have been competitive but chose to pool their
patents. Any doctor who purchased the laser from either firm had to pay up to $250 per eye each
time the laser was used to reshape a cornea, a process known as photo refractive keratectomy, or
PRK.
''The results of these alleged illegal activities are higher prices and limited choice for consumers,'' the
FTC said.
Neither of the two companies were immediately available for comment.
The firms allegedly set up a third company into which all of the $250 fees were paid, and then split
the pot. The fees were paid by doctors correcting mild to moderate nearsightedness and mild to
moderate astigmatism.
The FTC also alleged that VISX acted with ''inequitable conduct and willful fraud'' in obtaining the
patent on its process.
The FTC said VISX failed to tell the patent office about existing information concerning the process.
Willard Tom of the FTC's Bureau of Competition said in an interview that the patent office relies on
trust.
''The patent office must depend on the trustworthiness of people obtaining patents,'' he said.
When companies or individuals do not meet that standard, ''that has effects in the marketplace,'' he
said.
The companies were ordered to appear before an FTC administrative law judge for a hearing on
April 16. |
