New investigation by the Antitrust against the multinational pharmaceutical company Aspen, already fined by the Authority for setting unfair prices, with price increases between 300% and 1500%, for life-saving anti-cancer drugs. A maxi-fine of over 5 million euros was imposed on the company last October, with the order to remedy the disputed behavior and not to repeat it in the future. According to the Competition Authority, however, Aspen would not have implemented the required formalities, which triggered another investigation into non-compliance. The proceeding, reads the latest issue of the Antitrust bulletin, released yesterday, must be completed by 31 October 2017.
According to the Authority, Aspen has not «adopted suitable initiatives to the definition of fair prices for medicines" based on the active ingredients chlorambucil, melphalan, mercaptopurine and thioguanine, "as demonstrated by the content of the communication of 13 December 2016, by the new communication of 23 February 2017 and, most recently, by the conduct by Aspen on the occasion of the meeting with the AIFA Price and Reimbursement Committee, for the purpose of revising the contractual conditions in force». The company's behavior represents "a violation" of what was resolved with the provision of last October, "since all the initiatives" that Aspen says it has implemented "do not constitute obligations aimed at defining fair prices for the drugs covered by the provision ».
Related news: Competition and Market Guarantor Authority. Bulletin no. 10/2017 of 03/20/2017
Anti-cancer drugs more expensive than 1.500%, the Antitrust fines Aspen for 5 million