Bristol-Myers says FTC seeks files on Apotex deal
NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY.N) on Tuesday said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had requested documents related to its failed effort last year to block introduction in the United States of a generic form of its Plavix blood clot medicine made by Canadian drugmaker Apotex Inc.
Bristol-Myers said in a regulatory filing that the FTC on March 21 served the New York-based drug maker with a civil investigative demand for documents related to its proposed settlement with Apotex. Bristol would have paid Apotex to keep the generic drug off the market.
The settlement collapsed when state attorneys general opposed the deal as anti-competitive. Apotex then flooded the United States with its cheaper form of Plavix, causing sales of Bristol's branded product to plunge.
Bristol-Myers said on Tuesday that it was also cooperating fully with a previously disclosed criminal probe of the proposed Apotex settlement being conducted by the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
"It is not possible at this time (to) reasonably assess the outcome of the FTC investigation or of the investigation by the Department of Justice, or their impact on the company," Bristol-Myers said in a release.
((Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Reuters Messaging: ransdell.pierson.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646-223-6034; ransdell.pierson@reuters.com)) Keywords: BRISTOLMYERS APOTEX/FTC
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