According to Baxter International, the US Justice Department (DOJ) has closed an antitrust probe examining possible communication among producers of intravenous saline solutions during supply shortages that created higher prices.
Baxter, which received a grand jury subpoena in 2017 as part of the investigation, said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, February 21, that the DOJ informed it on November 30 of its decision to end the probe.
Other companies that in April 2017 disclosed receiving subpoenas as part of the investigation included Pfizer and ICU Medical, which earlier that year had acquired Pfizer’s global infusion therapy business.
Those companies have stated the New York attorney general has also sought records regarding business practices in the IV saline industry. Baxter in its SEC filing said it is cooperating with that investigation.
Baxter, Pfizer, ICU Medical, and the DOJ did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
The DOJ’s probe came amid a shortage of IV solutions that dated back to late 2013, when producers began notifying hospitals they might experience delivery delays.
The solutions are among the most basic, commonly used hospital supplies needed to hydrate patients.
The US Food and Drug Administration in January 2014 added the solutions to its drug shortage list, at the time saying the shortage was triggered by factors including increased hospital demand, potentially related to flu season.
In 2015, a bipartisan group of four US senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to probe three companies they said supplied all the saline solution used in the United States – Baxter, Hospira, and B. Braun.
Pfizer acquired Hospira in 2015. In 2017, Pfizer sold the global infusion therapy business, Hospira Infusion Systems, to ICU Medical.
In the letter, senators including US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat now running for president, said that since the shortage had begun, prices had risen by 200% to 300%.
In April 2017, Baxter disclosed an employee had received a subpoena issued by a grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It sought documents and testimony about the manufacturing, selling, pricing and shortages of IV solutions and communications with competitors, Baxter stated.
Baxter and Hospira also face a proposed class action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to fix prices for IV solutions. That lawsuit remains pending in federal court in Chicago.
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