Astra hit with antitrust fine
A European Union court backed an EU antitrust decision against Anglo-Swedish drugmakerAstraZeneca yesterday, lending weight to a regulatory crackdown on firms blocking cheaper drugs coming to market.
Antitrust lawyers said the ruling set a firm legal precedent for the regulator in its fight against companies suspected of preventing consumers from obtaining less expensive generic treatments.
“Basically the regulator’s hand has been strengthened,” said Nicola Dagg, head of intellectual property litigation practice at Allen & Overy.
“Pharmaceutical companies that get involved in those specific activities set out in the judgment will fall foul of the regulator,” she said, adding that it would be difficult for companies to know what other activities could be seen as abusive by regulators.
In 2005, the European Commission, which acts as the EU’s competition watchdog, said AstraZeneca had breached EU rules by blocking or delaying market access to generic versions of its ulcer pill Losec between 1993 and 2000.
The General Court, Europe’s second-highest, ruled that the European Commission’s decision was justified.
“The General Court essentially upholds the decision of the Commission which found that the AstraZeneca Group abused its dominant position by preventing the marketing of generic products replicating Losec,” the court said in a statement.
However, the court reduced the fine to €52.5m (£43.2m) from €60m, saying the Commission had not proved that the deregistration of marketing authorisations for the drug in Denmark and Norway affected parallel imports.