Judge Approves Vitamin Price-Fixing Accord

A federal judge approved a $242-million settlement of class-action claims that Roche Holding and five other major world drug makers fixed the prices of vitamins used to fortify animal feeds and processed foods. The approval ends the legal saga of an international price-fixing cartel. Roche, Rhone-Poulenc, BASF and three Japanese vitamin companies that admitted conspiring to illegally raise prices agreed last year to a $1.17-billion settlement to end the civil litigation. Rhone-Poulenc, which escaped criminal prosecution by cooperating with prosecutors, has since merged with Hoechst to form Aventis, the world’s No. 1 drug company.