Such employees also are released from any restrictions on their ability to work for the acquirer(s).įinally, the order provides for the appointment by the Commission of Katherine L. To provide the acquirer(s) with access to any necessary employees, the order requires Cardinal to facilitate and not interfere with the recruitment of former Biotech employees and current Cardinal nuclear pharmacy employees in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and El Paso. Cardinal must notify each relevant customer of its right to terminate its existing contract. This will ensure that the acquirer(s) have the chance to compete with Cardinal for business. Other terms of the order require Cardinal to grant its customers in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and El Paso a two-year right to terminate – without penalty or charge – their existing contracts with Cardinal to buy low-energy radiopharmaceuticals. If suitable acquirers are not found within six months, the FTC may appoint a divestiture trustee to carry out Cardinal’s obligations to reconstitute and sell the nuclear pharmacy assets. Further, Cardinal must demonstrate to the FTC that each buyer has a supply of two vital low-energy radiopharmaceutical inputs, the radioisotope technetium 99 and a heart-perfusion agent. Cardinal also must obtain, maintain, and transfer all regulatory approvals, licenses, permits, clearances, and other assets needed to operate the pharmacies being acquired. In addition, Cardinal must divest to each buyer the intellectual property related to the nuclear pharmacies that Biotech owned before the acquisition. To accomplish this, the order requires Cardinal to reconstitute the three nuclear pharmacies it had operated in these markets prior to the acquisition, and sell each one to an FTC-approved buyer. The order settling the FTC’s charges is designed to remedy the anticompetitive effects of Cardinal’s acquisition by restoring the competition lost in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and El Paso. As a result of the acquisition, Cardinal obtained, and has since held, a large market share.Īccording to the FTC’s complaint, Cardinal’s acquisition of Biotech’s nuclear pharmacies may substantially lessen competition for the production, sale, and distribution of low-energy radiopharmaceuticals in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and El Paso by eliminating direct competition between Cardinal and Biotech, reducing Cardinal’s incentive to improve customer service, and allowing Cardinal to increase prices. In Las Vegas, there were three competitors before the acquisition, and Cardinal and Biotech were the two leading providers. Cardinal still holds a large market share in El Paso. In El Paso, Cardinal held a monopoly until November 2010, when another nuclear pharmacy opened in the city. After the acquisition, Cardinal relocated its nuclear pharmacy businesses to the former Biotech nuclear pharmacy locations and closed its own locations.Īs a result of the acquisition, Cardinal now holds a low-energy radiopharmaceuticals monopoly in Albuquerque. The pharmacies produced, sold, and distributed low-energy radiopharmaceuticals. Before the acquisition, Cardinal and Biotech had both operated nuclear pharmacies in these cities. On July 31, 2009, Cardinal acquired certain assets of Biotech, including its nuclear pharmacies in Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and El Paso. Accordingly, competition among nuclear pharmacies occurs at a local level. Because radioisotopes used in radiopharmaceuticals have short half-lives and decay rapidly, nuclear pharmacies can only serve customers in their local areas. Radiopharmaceuticals contain a radioisotope that is combined with a chemical compound. Nuclear pharmacies provide radiopharmaceuticals to hospitals and cardiology clinics, which use the products to diagnose and treat various diseases. to reconstitute and sell nuclear pharmacies in Las Vegas, Nevada Albuquerque, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas under a settlement order resolving the agency’s charges that Cardinal’s purchase of nuclear pharmacies from Biotech reduced competition for low-energy radiopharmaceuticals in the three cities. ![]() The Federal Trade Commission will require Cardinal Health, Inc. About the FTC Show/hide About the FTC menu items.News and Events Show/hide News and Events menu items.Advice and Guidance Show/hide Advice and Guidance menu items.Competition and Consumer Protection Guidance Documents.Enforcement Show/hide Enforcement menu items.
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