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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KonKilo who wrote (937)	12/20/1998 5:50:00 PM
From: Rande Is	Respond to of 57584

Tough break for Mylan Labs. . . one of our long-termers. . .news: December 18, 1998 16:03 FTC expected to charge Mylan Monday, sources say WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission is expected to vote on Monday to seek consumer refunds from Mylan Laboratories Inc., the largest U.S. maker of generic drugs, and allege anti-competitive actions that sharply increased prices, sources said Friday. A person familiar with the situation said that the "train is moving down the track" toward a vote in favor of seeking monetary damages from Mylan in Federal District Court. The four FTC commissioners have set a meeting for Monday. A spokeswoman declined comment on Mylan or on the subject of the meeting. By law and regulation, FTC meetings are closed and topics are not announced in advance. Pittsburgh-based Mylan has raised the prices of several of its products this year, including lorazepam, an anti-anxiety drug. Generic drugs, which are usually less-expensive versions of brand-name products, have played a large role in trimming health-care costs but have increased in price this year at a faster rate than their more expensive counterparts. Last year the company entered an exclusive arrangement with an Italian company, Profarmica, to obtain raw materials for some of its drugs, the New York Times reported earlier this month. After Mylan arranged the deal with Profarmica, the cost of raw materials to Mylan's competitors increased. Mylan was not immediately available for comment Friday but has previously said it behaved properly. "Mylan continues to believe that it has done nothing wrong and that no credible charges can be filed," the company said in a prepared statement issued earlier this month. The FTC has given particular attention to the actions of drug suppliers recently. Earlier this year, the agency blocked the merger of the four largest drug wholesalers into two companies. The four control 80 percent of the distribution of drugs.