FBI agents raided the office of Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO Peter Dolan as part of its investigation into a $40 million deal to stave off generic competition to the blood thinner Plavix. Bristol-Myers and Sanofi-Aventis, which both hold marketing rights on Plavix, agreed to give Apotex $40 million in exchange for its agreement to hold off on a generic competitor until 2011. Plavix, with nearly $6 billion in revenue last year, is the world's second-highest selling therapeutic. It was not immediately clear what caused the Federal Trade Commission to launch the probe. There is no prohibition against deals such as this, though company officials would have to steer clear of sharing pricing information or other confidential data. Dolan said the company is cooperating.
- here's the article on the probe from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)