(Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories said on Friday it received a civil investigative demand in January from the Federal Trade Commission related to a probe of the companies participating in bids for women, infants and children formula contracts.
The FTC had launched an inquiry last year into the shortage for infant formula in the United States and had said it would examine the pattern of mergers and acquisitions in the formula market.
In January, Abbott’s Michigan plant, which was at the center of the U.S. baby formula shortage last year, faced a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, the Wall Street Journal had reported.
The FTC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Granth Vanaik; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
