FTC Requests Re-Hearing in Schering-Plough Case

The Federal Trade Commission today filed a petition with the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta, Georgia, requesting that the Court vacate its March 8, 2005 decision in the matter of FTC v. Schering-Plough Corporation, No. 04-10688, and re-hear the case en banc.

In April 2001, the FTC filed an administrative complaint against Schering-Plough Corporation, Upsher Smith Laboratories and American Home Products (AHP) alleging that they had entered into anticompetitive agreements aimed at keeping a low-cost generic version of K-Dur 20 potassium chloride supplement off the U.S. market. AHP settled with the Commission in April 2002. In July 2002, an administrative law judge issued an initial decision dismissing the FTC’s complaint. The staff appealed this initial decision to the full Commission, which ruled in its favor in December 2003. Schering and Upsher then appealed the case to the Eleventh Circuit, which issued a decision by a three-judge panel reversing the Commission’s ruling and dismissing the charges against the companies.

The FTC’s Bureau of Competition seeks to prevent business practices that restrain competition. The Bureau carries out its mission by investigating alleged law violations and, when appropriate, recommending that the Commission take formal enforcement action. To notify the Bureau concerning particular business practices, call or write the Office of Policy and Evaluation, Room 394, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W., Washington, DC 20580, Electronic Mail: antitrust@ftc.gov; Telephone (202) 326-3300. For more information on the laws that the Bureau enforces, the Commission has published “Promoting Competition, Protecting Consumers: A Plain English Guide to Antitrust Laws,” which can be accessed at http://www.ftc.gov/bc/compguide/index.htm.