FTC to Probe Brand, Generic Drug Agreements

The Federal Trade Commission said it will investigate whether agreements between brand-name and generic drug manufacturers have cost consumers millions of dollars a year by denying them cheaper medicines. The agency said it would probe whether companies had made deals or used other strategies that delayed generic drugs from hitting the market after a patent expired. Generic drugs typically cost significantly less than their brand-name counterparts. The FTC already has charged four companies with making arrangements that delayed the debut of generic forms of two hypertension drugs, Aventis’ Cardizem CD and Abbott Laboratories’ Hytrin. The agency said it would request information from about 30 brand-name drug makers and 60 generic firms.