Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994 TAG: 9403070119
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: associated press and staff reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Four major food and drug retailing companies - The Kroger Co., Albertson's Inc., Safeway Inc. and The Vons Cos. Inc. - said Friday they have filed suit in Federal District Court in Cincinnati alleging unfair price discrimination by 16 of the nation's largest pharmaceutical firms and a mail-order drug prescription company.
The suit says the drug companies sell their brand-name prescription drugs to hospitals, hospital pharmacies, HMOs and mail-order pharmacies at lower prices than they charge supermarkets.
The defendants are Abbott Laboratories, American Home Products Corp., Bristol-Myers-Squibb Co., Burroughs-Wellcome Co., Ciba-Geigy Corp., The DuPont-Merck Pharmaceutical Co., Glaxo Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Merck & Co. Inc., Pfizer Inc., Rhone Poulenc Rorer, Schering-Plough Corp., G.D. Searle & Co., SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals Co., The Upjohn Co. and Zeneca, Inc.
The mail-order firm named in the suit is Medco Containment Services, Inc. and its two wholly owned subsidiaries, National Pharmacies, Inc., and PAID Prescriptions Inc. None had an immediate reply to the charges. - Staff report \ Bankruptcy court gets 5 petitions
Five business petitions have been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia at Roanoke.
L.R. Brown Jr. Painting and Wallcovering Contractors Inc. of Roanoke and Troutville sought reorganization and protection from creditors. Luther R. Brown Jr., president, listed assets of $99,500 and liabilities of $81,700.
L&M Supermarket Inc. of Grundy filed for liquidation. Carl Van Dyke is president. The company said it had no assets but liabilities of $53,689.
Leslie Lee Jarrells Jr., doing business as Central Texaco at Blacksburg, filed for a wage-earner plan for repayment of debts. He listed assets of $200,427 and liabilities of $260,532.
Debra Crigger Stone of Wytheville, trading as Top Printing and as Trade Days, petitioned for liquidation. She listed assets of $5,156 and liabilities of $37,996.
William Robert Umbarger of Atkins, a self-employed logger, filed for a wage-earner plan, estimating both assets and liabilities at less than $50,000. - Staff report\ \ Probe of Chrysler minivans upgraded
WASHINGTON - The government's traffic safety agency has upgraded an investigation into reports that the rear hatch of Chrysler minivans popped open during accidents that killed eight people.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in its monthly defect investigation report, said Friday it had received reports of 13 accidents involving nine injuries and eight fatalities in the 1984-94 Voyager, Caravan and Town and Country. It said the rear lift-gate latching mechanism released on impact. - Associated Press
by CNB