FTC’s Khan Eyes Old Weapon to Crack Down on New Market Players

The FTC is mulling the use of a rarely used anti-price discrimination law to potentially crack down on dominant companies’ unfair use of market power.

The Federal Trade Commission is ramping up enforcement against illegal bribes and rebate schemes involving pharmacy benefits managers, it announced in a June enforcement policy statement. The statement pointed to one of its legal authorities—the Robinson-Patman Act, a Great Depression-era price discrimination law referred to as the “Magna Carta of Small Business"—that could be exercised by the agency.

In April, a bipartisan group of 43 House members sent a letter to the FTC urging ...