Top bar

About POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD)

The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

Sanofi-Aventis

Failure to Report Ambien Patent Agreements

Date: 05/09/2011 (Date of FTC Advisory Letter)

Misconduct Type: Antitrust

Enforcement Agency: FTC

Contracting Party: None

Court Type: N/A

Amount: $0

Disposition: Investigative Finding

Synopsis: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) notified Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Synthon Holding B.V., alleging that the companies violated the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) by failing to inform antitrust authorities about drug patent agreements involving Sanofi’s insomnia drug Ambien CR. The MMA requires companies to file such agreements with the FTC and U.S. Department of Justice within 10 business days of their execution, or else face a civil penalty of $11,000 per day. The FTC decided not to recommend an enforcement action because the violation did not appear to have harmed consumers or benefitted the companies, and the failure to file did not appear to have been a deliberate effort to evade the requirements of the MMA.