Chinese Vitamin C Price-Fixing Case Could Alter U.S. Drug Market

Drug companies have much at stake in long-running antitrust case in which Chinese vitamin C exporters are accused of conspiring to fix prices and to control the U.S. supply.

A loss for Chinese vitamin C companies could encourage similar suits, posing a threat to other manufacturers there, while a win for the vitamin C exporters would hurt the U.S. government and American pharmaceutical companies by taking away a key tool—antitrust law—for curbing China’s attempt to control the drug market, attorneys said.

“Taking that away will enable these Chinese companies to continue their strategy of dominating foreign markets through various means, ...