Tag Archives: Federal Trade Commission

FTC charges in Shkreli case shed light on need for new generic drug development

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The Federal Trade Commission and State of New York late last month filed a lawsuit against Martin Shkreli, charging that Shkreli and Vyera Pharmaceuticals raised the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim by more than 4,000% and worked to corner the market for such drugs.

“The joint action accused Shkreli and Vyera Pharmaceuticals, formerly known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, of scheming to ‘illegally’ prevent would-be generic competitors from selling a version of Daraprim,” as Stat’s Ed Silverman reported on Jan. 27. After acquiring the drug in 2015, Shkreli, dubbed the “Pharma Bro,” and Turing raised the list price of the medication from $17.50 per tablet to $750, he added. Continue reading →

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

Are medical, dental boards public or private? Case over teeth-whitening services may decide

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Image by waldopepper via Flickr

Image by waldopepper via Flickr

A long-simmering feud between North Carolina’s state dental board and a group of non-dentists who provide teeth-whitening services in malls and day spas is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the case, North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, are scheduled for Oct. 14, the ADA (American Dental Association) News reports.

The decision could have wider implications for teeth-whitening shops – and for the dental and medical boards that regulate the health professions nationwide. Dental whitening has grown into a big business in recent years and, in a number of states, dental boards have taken steps to make the services illegal for anyone but dentists or hygienists to perform. Campbell Robertson provided a thorough look at the topic in a story last year for The New York Times.

In North Carolina, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken the side of the retail teeth-whitening shops. In 2011, the commission held that North Carolina’s state dental board “illegally thwarted competition by working to bar non-dentist providers of teeth whitening goods and services from selling their products to consumers.”

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the FTC’s ruling.

But the North Carolina dental board argues that its actions are not subject to such challenges because federal antitrust laws do not apply to actions taken by a state or its agencies. Continue reading →

Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is AHCJ's topic leader on oral health and the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America." She can be reached at mary@healthjournalism.org.

Court ruling may signal tougher stance on hospital-physician ventures

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Image by SalFlako via flickr.

Image by SalFlako via flickr.

One of the most significant trends in health care over the past few years has been the merger of physician groups with hospitals. By acquiring physician groups, hospitals and health systems can develop accountable care organizations and gain a competitive advantage by requiring employed physicians to refer patients to them.

But last week a federal judge in Idaho ruled that St. Luke’s Health System in Boise had violated antitrust law by acquiring the 40-physician Saltzer Medical Group, in nearby Nampa, Idaho, in December 2012. At the time, Saltzer was the largest independent multispecialty group practice in the state. As result of the antitrust violation, the judge said the hospital had to unwind the acquisition.

Given that the Federal Trade Commission was a plaintiff in the case, the decision raises a question about whether the FTC will pursue antitrust cases in other cases when hospitals acquire physician groups. The decision on Friday by B. Lynn Winmill, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Idaho, marked the first time a federal court had decided an FTC case against a hospital acquiring a physician practice, as Beth Kutscher explained in Modern Healthcare. Continue reading →

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

Idaho publishers seek access to health care price information in antitrust case

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reliefNews publishers in Idaho have asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to unseal pricing information that health insurers pay to hospitals and other providers in Idaho in an antitrust case stemming from a hospital system’s purchase of a physician group.

The publishers of the Idaho Statesman in Boise, the Idaho-Press Tribune in Nampa, and the Times-News in Twin Falls were joined by The Associated Press and the Idaho Press Club in the request to unseal the pricing data along with witness testimony and exhibits in the case, according to reports by Joe Carlson in Modern Healthcare and by Audrey Dutton in the Idaho Statesman.

The request was filed in November after U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill failed to require lawyers to make compelling arguments for keeping the evidence sealed and keeping the courtroom closed at certain stages of the trial, Dutton reported.

Court documents (PDF) show that the pricing data was sealed before the trial began in September in Boise. Continue reading →

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.