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The government charged that the firm now known as Aventis illegally paid Andrx Corp. to keep a competing drug for high blood pressure and chest pains off the market. The Federal Trade Commission said it had settled similar charges that Abbott Laboratories paid Novartis unit Geneva Pharmaceuticals Inc. to keep a competing drug off the market for Hytrin, used to treat high blood pressure and enlarged prostates. The FTC said Aventis, known as Hoechst Marion Roussel then, paid Andrx to keep a competitor to Cardizem CD off the market for two years. The companies denied wrongdoing. The companies are not expected to be fined but will be ordered to cease the practice.

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