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Antitrust charges against Impax Lab dismissed by federal agency judge

Antitrust charges filed by the Federal Trade Commission against Impax Laboratories Inc. have been dismissed by a judge within the agency.

The FTC in a January 2017 complaint had alleged that in June 2010 Impax and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. reached a deal under which Impax will not launch a generic version of an Endo painkiller for three years, a news release from the agency said.

Impax was paid more than $112 million to refrain from marketing a generic version of Endo's Opana ER — an extended release opioid made by Endo, the FTC complaint said.

In passing the initial decision on May 18, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell said there was not enough evidence to prove that the agreement between the two companies violated antitrust laws.

He further said that under the facts of the case, "the magnitude and extent of any anticompetitive harm is largely theoretical, based on an inference that, absent the Challenged Agreement, Impax's entry date, and therefore generic competition, would have been earlier than January 2013. The evidence shows that such earlier entry was unlikely."

This initial decision by the judge will be reviewed by the full FTC on its own motion, or at the request of any party. It will become the final decision 30 days later unless an appeal is filed or the FTC places the case for review.