The European Commission has fined a group of drug manufacturers, including Denmark\u2019s Lundbeck, Germany\u2019s Merck, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Arrow Group and Zoetis Products, for colluding to keep a generic drug off the market.<\/p>\n
Officials for the commission, the European Union\u2019s anti-trust regulator, claim that the companies agreed not to introduce generic versions of Lundbeck\u2019s antidepressant citalopram when its basic patent expired in return for tens of millions of euros of \u201csubstantial payments and other inducements from Lundbeck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unacceptable that a company pays off its competitors to stay out of its market and delay the entry of cheaper medicines,\u201d Joaquin Almunia, the European competition commissioner, said in a statement on Wednesday, according to The New York Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgreements of this type directly harm patients and national health systems, which are already under tight budgetary constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fines total 146 million euros ($195 million), with Lundbeck receiving the biggest penalty of 93.8 million euros.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is wrong and extremely misleading\u201d of the commission \u201cto claim that these agreements have delayed the marketing of citalopram copies and thereby violated competition laws,\u201d Lundbeck\u2019s CEO Ulf Wiinberg said in response to the fine, according to Bloomberg News.<\/p>\n
The company said it would appeal.<\/p>\n