Archive Report
Archive Report
Charges of Price-Fixing in Drug Industry
Resentment at having to pay the high prices charged for many of the medicines now prescribed for minor as well as serious ailments has assured wide public interest for any action that holds some promise of easing this part of the burden of illness. The Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee, headed by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D Tenn.), will explore pricing practices of drug manufacturers at hearings opening on Dec. 7. The Federal Trade Commission more than a year ago leveled formal charges of illegal price-fixing against six large pharmaceutical houses. Meanwhile, producers of the Salk polio vaccine are being tried on charges of conspiring to set uniform prices for the vaccine.
Concern over drug prices has grown with ...