The FTC announced yesterday that Cardinal Health, Inc.
("Cardinal") has agreed to pay $26.8 million to resolve
its investigation into the company's alleged anticompetitive
behavior. If approved by a federal court, the settlement would mark
the FTC's first disgorgement obtained in a competition case in
nearly a decade and would stand as the second-highest antitrust
disgorgement deal ever.
In a Complaint filed in the Southern District of
New York, the FTC outlined a pattern of conduct by Cardinal aimed
at monopolizing the market for the sale and distribution of
radiopharmaceuticals. Radiopharmaceuticals -- drugs that are
prepared by combining a radioactive isotope with a chemical agent
-- are compounded and distributed by radiopharmacies. These drugs
are used in a variety of nuclear imaging procedures, such as
cardiac stress tests. Cardinal became the nation's largest
operator of radiopharmacies following its acquisition of Syncor
International in 2003 and Geodax
