US FTC warns Sanofi, Watson and Synthon over Ambien patent deal, but won't take action

The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has notified Sanofi-Aventis US, a subsidiary of French drug major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN), US generics firm Watson Pharmaceuticals(NYSE: WPI) and privately-held Netherlands-based Synthon Holding, that it believes the companies violated federal law by failing to inform antitrust authorities about drug patent agreements involving Sanofi’s insomnia drug Ambien CR (zolpidem).

However, the FTC staff told the companies that it decided not to recommend enforcement action for several reasons, including its finding that the violation does not appear to have harmed consumers or competition, nor benefitted the companies.

Watson and Synthon already sell generic zolpidem in the USA, and Sanofi’s global Ambien sleep franchise, once a blockbuster for the French group, sank 52% year-on-year to a low of 116 million euros ($168.2 million) in the first quarter of this year.