Tag: Competition

The Commission authorized a preliminary injunction to block Thoratec Corporation’s proposed $282 million acquisition of rival medical device maker HeartWare International, Inc., charging that the transaction would substantially reduce competition in the U.S. market for left ventricular devices (LVADs), a life-sustaining treatment for patients with advanced heart failure. The FTC’s administrative complaint alleges that Thoratec seeks to maintain its monopoly by acquiring HeartWare, thus eliminating the only significant threat to Thoratec’s continued dominance of the LVAD market.  In August of 2009, the parties announced they would not to proceed with the proposed acquisition, and the Commission dismissed the Administrative Complaint without filing an motion for preliminary injunction in federal court.

Alta Bates Medical Group, Inc., a 600-physician independent practice association serving the Berkeley and Oakland, California, area, settleed Commission charges that it violated federal antitrust law by fixing prices charged to health care insurers. The consent order prohibits Alta Bates from collectively negotiating fee-for-service reimbursements and engaging in related anticompetitive conduct. In addition to price-fixing of fee-for-service reimbursements, the FTC’s complaint alleges an unlawful concerted refusal to deal.

John C. Malone, CEO and Chairman of Discovery Holding Company, agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that he violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act) in connection with acquisitions of Discovery shares in 2005 and 2008. The FTC alleged that Malone failed to file the required notice in 2005 after buying Discovery shares, and then in 2008 purchased additional Discovery shares before the expiration of a waiting period required by the HSR Act.