Drug Maker Accused of Price Gouging
A 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.”
Practical 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.
Qualcomm 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.
Apple 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.