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EU: EC to combat top generic makers’ pay-for-delay deals next month

 |  June 19, 2014

The European Commission could issue fines to the world’s largest generic drug makers as early as next month, according to unnamed sources.

Leading generic firms Teva Pharmaceutical and Les Laboratoires Servier, along with other generic competitors, are under the Commission’s crackdown for alleged anticompetitive agreements made with brand name rivals, deals that are known as pay-for-delay schemes in which generic firms accept payment from brand name firms to delay the release of their cheaper, competing drugs.

Unnamed sources said Thursday that as many as six companies, including Teva and Servier, could be issued fines by the end of next month, before the Commission goes on vacation.

EU authorities first launched an inquiry into the pharmaceutical industry in 2008, leading to multiple antitrust investigations.

Full content: Bloomberg

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