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Coburn Charges Drug Companies With Price Fixing

Tue, 06/27/2000 - 11:00pm — Karen Stevenson
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Physician and Congressman Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate allegations that drug companies are colluding to fix prices. He referred to allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Hoechst Marion Roussel agreed to pay generic drug maker Andrx to delay bringing to market a generic version of Hoechst's popular Cardizem CD, and that Abbott Laboratories paid generic drug maker Geneva Pharmaceuticals to delay the introduction of a generic for the hypertension and prostate drug Hytrin. He said that reducing drug prices by eliminating price-fixing will do more to help older people who need medications than just expanding the Medicare program to help them pay those prices.

Physician and Congressman Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate allegations that drug companies are colluding to fix prices. He referred to allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Hoechst Marion Roussel agreed to pay generic drug maker Andrx to delay bringing to market a generic version of Hoechst's popular Cardizem CD, and that Abbott Laboratories paid generic drug maker Geneva Pharmaceuticals to delay the introduction of a generic for the hypertension and prostate drug Hytrin. He said that reducing drug prices by eliminating price-fixing will do more to help older people who need medications than just expanding the Medicare program to help them pay those prices.