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US: J&J says FTC probing efforts to protect arthritis drug Remicade

By  |  July 30, 2019

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued civil subpoenas to Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in June as part of an investigation into whether contracting practices for its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Remicade, violated antitrust laws, the company stated in a regulatory filing on Monday, July 29.

J&J stated that the FTC had issued a “civil investigative demand,” or CID, the equivalent of a subpoena to determine if the contracting practices were legal.

Pfizer filed a lawsuit against J&J in 2017, alleging its rival’s contracts with health insurers for Remicade were anticompetitive and aimed at blocking sales of Pfizer’s biosimilar called Inflectra.

Pfizer claimed in the lawsuit that J&J had contracted with many insurers to give discounts in exchange for giving preference to Remicade, and to only pay for Inflectra in cases where Remicade proved to be ineffective. Inflectra was approved in 2016 while Remicade went on the market in 1998.

Full Content: CNBC

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