Drug Wholesalers Fight FTC Over Mergers

ORANGE — The nation’s four largest wholesalers of prescription drugs said Wednesday that they are mounting legal challenges to the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to block two proposed mega-mergers among the four.

If allowed, the agency contends, the proposed deals--Ohio-based Cardinal Health Corp.’s purchase of Bergen Brunswig Corp. of Orange and San Francisco-based McKesson Corp.’s acquisition of AmeriSource Health Corp. of Malvern, Pa.--would hand most of the nation’s wholesale market for prescription drugs to two companies.

The wholesalers Wednesday said they will oppose the agency’s request for a temporary injunction to halt the deals. In similar statements, the companies reiterated their position that the mergers would bring lower drug costs and better services.

The agency claims the mergers would cause drug prices to increase for consumers and services to decrease. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., has set a pretrial hearing in the case for May 11.

In New York Stock Exchange trading Wednesday, McKesson stock closed at $59.25, up 19 cents. Shares of the other three companies dropped--Cardinal Health closed at $84.38, off $1.37, Bergen Brunswig at $41.63, off 75 cents; and AmeriSource Health at $58.94, off 81 cents.