Drug Maker Accused of Price Gouging

Pills - medicineA lawsuit alleges Gilead Sciences is price gouging by pricing its Sovaldi hepatitis C treatment at $1,000 a pill, the Wall Street Journal reports in one of its blogs.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which serves the greater Philadelphia area, last week filed an unusual lawsuit claiming that Gilead is price gouging. The drug maker charges $84,000 for a 12-week regimen, or $1,000 a pill.

“In arguing its case, the transit agency claims that, by using ‘exorbitant pricing,’ Gilead has made it difficult for some consumers and government programs to afford its medication and, subsequently, violated antitrust laws,” the blog reports.

A Gilead spokeswoman is quoted as saying the lawsuit is “completely devoid of merit.”

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Antitrust Treatment of Physician Practice Acquisitions

Dcotor with maskPractical Law and Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn LLP have posted a free on-demand webinar titled “Insider Perspective: Antitrust Treatment of Physician Practice Acquisitions,” a discussion of the decisions in Saint Alphonsus, et al v. St. Luke’s, et al and Federal Trade Commission, et al v. St. Luke’s, et al, the first cases to address the antitrust implications of hospital acquisitions of physician practices.

Peter Herrick, Senior Trial Counsel, Federal Trade Commission; David Ettinger, counsel for St. Alphonsus Health System; and Stephanie Westermeier, General Counsel, Saint Alphonsus Health System offered their insider perspectives about these landmark decisions in which they were directly involved, including which evidence was most persuasive and counseling tips for future physician group acquisitions.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

 




Qualcomm Faces Two New Antitrust Probes

Intellectual property IPQualcomm faces three investigations into allegations of anti-competitive behavior, as it revealed new probes in the United States and European Union on top of the antitrust inquiry it already faces in China, according to a report in The Financial Times.

Reporting earnings on Wednesday, the wireless chip developer warned that the probe in China, which began last year, presented “significant challenges” in forecasting the year ahead.

Qualcomm recently disclosed two new investigations had begun in the last month, one into its patent licensing business by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States and the other into its baseband chip set business in Europe.

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Apple Facing Trial for Music Downloading Restrictions

Earphones around EarthApple will try to defend against allegations that it violated antitrust laws by trying to restrict music downloads for iPods to its iTunes store. Jury selection in the federal trial will begin Nov. 19, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

While Apple abandoned the restrictions in question years ago, the stakes are still high — damages could exceed $1 billion if antitrust violations are proven, and an adverse verdict would amount to a black eye for the company’s past business practices, reports the News.

It continued, “The antitrust case was first filed in 2005, alleging Apple created a monopoly by blocking iPod owners from going to competitors for their music. The central issue involved Apple’s ‘FairPlay,’ a so-called digital rights management system, or DRM, that ensured iPod owners could only download songs from the iTunes store.”

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Hot Topics in Antitrust Compliance and Enforcement

Baker & McKenzieBaker & McKenzie presents a free on-demand webinar on how companies can address antitrust issues and enforcement in their compliance programs.

The webinar includes discussion on cascading cartel investigations, iInformation exchange, dawn raid protocols, and  document management. This webinar is an installment in the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Strategies Series.

Presenters for the webinar are Edward W. Batchelor, a partner in the Baker & McKenzie Brussels office; Katherine Funk, a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office; Dr. Akira Inoue, a partner in the Tokyo office; and María Carolina Pardo Cuéllar, a partner in the Bogota office.

Watch the on-demand webinar.