Â鶹´«Ã½

Economists at the Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission (FTC) pursue the agencyÂ’'s competition and consumer protection missions. In this yearÂ’'s essay, in antitrust, we discuss two recent mergers that involved Rx drugs: First, we describe key elements of the inquiry into the Express Scripts (ESI)/Medco transaction in the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry. Next, we analyze a merger that involved drugs that are used to treat patent ductus arteriosus: a condition that affects premature babies. On the consumer protection side, we discuss a pricing strategy – drip pricing – that involves the release of price information about a multi-part product over time as the consumer goes through the purchase process.