On 15 September 2008, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it would challenge a manufacturing, distribution, and supply agreement between Fresenius Medical Care Ag & Co. KGaA (Fresenius) and Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd. (Daiichi), alleging that the proposed transaction would violate US federal antitrust laws in the market for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of intravenously-administered iron sucrose. To settle charges that the agreement was anti-competitive, the FTC issued a proposed consent order limiting Fresenius's ability to increase the intra-company transfer price of Venofer, which otherwise allegedly would have increased Medicare reimbursement rates paid to dialysis clinics in the United States