1.   Boies was a lead attorney in the class-action suit against the vitamin makers and is said to be interested in the case because of concerns about farmers.

2.   Several other large vitamin makers, such as Twinlab Corp. and NBTY Inc., also saw shares tumble in heavy trading.

3.   Still, questions remain about whether the big vitamin makers, which dominate the world market, will try again to raise profits artificially.

4.   The vitamin makers, several of which have already settled government charges in Canada, are also facing antitrust investigations in Europe.

5.   But Leiner Health Products Inc. and Pharmavite, both California vitamin makers, plan to market the pills.