To Servier 331 million for having prevented the marketing of a generic. To the other 5 generic producers 97 million: Niche/Unichem, Matrix (part of the Mylan group), Teva, Krka and Lupine
Objective to defend perindropil from price competition (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor)
– Bruxelles, 09 lug – La Commissione Ue ha inflitto ammende per un totale di 427,7 mln di euro all’impresa farmaceutica francese Servier e a cinque produttori di farmaci generici: Niche/Unichem, Matrix (che fa parte del gruppo Mylan), Teva, Krka et Lupin. Motivo: hanno concluso una serie di accordi illegali per proteggere il perindopril, farmaco per il trattamento della pressione arteriosa, il più venduto da Servier, dalla concorrenza di prezzo dovuta ad altri generici nella Ue.
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(RADIOCOR) 09-07-14
Fine of 331 million to a French pharmaceutical company for blocking the entry of generics into the EU
Bruselas sanctions with 97 millones a otros 5 fabricantes de genéricos
Servier agreed with them to avoid competencies on your drug for hypertension
09.07.2014 AGENCIES rtve.es
The European Commission has imposed a fine of 331 million euros on the French pharmaceutical company servicing pactar acuerdos to prevent the entry into the market of a more cheap version of a cardiovascular drug. Five manufacturers of generic medicines who access these pacts will have to pay 97 million euros in other cases.
El Ejecutivo comunitario ha informado este miércoles de las multas millonarias a Servier, Niche-Unichem, Matrix (ahora, integrado en Mylan), Teva, Krka y Lupin por haber realizado “una serie de pactos encaminadas todos a proteger el medicamento estrella contra la hipertensión, Perindopril, de la farmacéutica francesa, de la competencia de genéricos en la Unión Europea”.
The highest fine imposed on Servier, who will tend to pay 331 million euros, which - according to the results of the Commission's investigation - applied a strategy to exclude rivals and retract the entry of the most cheap medicines on the market through a technological acquisition and a series of bids on patents with competing generic manufacturers, to the detriment of public assumptions and patients.
“Servier empleó una estrategia para deshacerse económicamente y de manera sistemática de cualquier amenaza de competidores para asegurarse de que éstos permanecían alejados del mercado”, ha señalado el vicepresidente del Ejecutivo comunitario y comisario europeo de Competencia, Joaquín Almunia, quien ha explicado las sanciones en una rueda de prensa.
Perindopril is a very sold drug against hypertension and alone was the star product of Servier, which dominated the market because no other drug against high blood pressure - except for its own generic versions - was capable of competing with the French pharmaceutical company at prices and ventas.
La patente de Servier on the perindopril molecule expired, in its major part, in 2003. In order to reach the end of this patent, the generic manufacturers were instructed to prepare themselves to enter the market, and to save the secondary licenses that followed current - related con el procesamiento y la forma del medicamento- buscaron productos no sujetos a patentes o legally demanded las de Servier, arguing that they unduly blocked their aspiraciones.
In that moment, they found few ways to get hold of unprotected technology and, in 2004, Servier acquired the most advanced technology, with which it will enter various projects from generic manufacturers and, therefore, retracted on market entries, following the investigation of the Commission.
A porcentaje de ingresos de Servier in exchange for no competition
La farmacéutica francesa reconoció que el objetivo de esa adquisición era “fortalecer el mecanismo de defensa” de la compañía y que la tecnología en cuestión nunca se ha utilizado.
Entre 2005 y 2007, cada vez que una empresa de genéricos estaba cerca de entrar en el mercado, Servier y la compañía en cuestión llegaban a un acuerdo, pero ese pacto no era como los que habitualmente se alcanzan fuera de los juzgados en una disputa sobre patentes, sino que con él, el rival “se abstenía a competir a cambio de un porcentaje de los ingresos” de la farmacéutica francesa.
Esto ocurrió al menos cinco veces en ese período de tres años y los pagos en efectivo por parte de Servier ascendieron a un total de “varios miles de millones de euros”, según Bruselas. En uno de los casos, incluso, la farmacéutica francesa ofreció a uno de los fabricantes de medicamentos genéricos licencias para siete mercados nacionales, a cambio de que renunciase al resto de mercados de la UE y dejase de insistir en lanzar su perindopril.
With these strategies, the European Commission concludes, Servier will be sure that the generic products will remain free from the national markets and will abstain from taking legal measures against them while they last for the accounts.
Related news: https://www.fedaiisf.it/Start/HDefault.aspx?Newsid=9480
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