By Laurence Norman
BRUSSELS--The European Union has imposed a 93.8-million-euro
($125.4 million) fine on Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck,
saying it was working with other companies to delay the market
entry of generic versions of its blockbuster antidepressant drug
citalopram.
The European Commission also imposed fines worth EUR52.2 million
on a number of generic medicine companies including India's Ranbaxy
Laboratories Limited (500350.BY), Arrow and Merck KGaA/Generics UK
and Alpharma, now part of Zoetis Products LLC (ZTS), for colluding
in the delay.
According to a statement by the EU's antitrust authorities,
after Lundbeck's patent expired, the company paid the other
companies tens of millions of euros not to enter the market and
purchased generics' stock "for the sole purchase of destroying
it."
"It is unacceptable that a company pays off its competitors to
stay out of its market and delay the entry of cheaper medicines,"
said EU anti-trust chief Joaquin Almunia. "Agreements of this type
directly harm patients and national health systems which are
already under tight budgetary constraints."
Write to Laurence Norman at Laurence.norman@dowjones.com
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