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EU: Pay-for-delay lands J&J, Novartis with $22M in fines

By  |  December 10, 2013

The European Commission sanctioned pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson and Novartis with fines totaling $21.95 million for their payments to block a generic version of a drug in a pay-for-delay deal, a day after Commissioner Joaquin Almunia spoke on the anticompetitive effects of such agreements.

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    In a statement released Tuesday, the Commission said the companies were found to have blocked the sale of a generic, cheaper version of a painkiller in the Netherlands beginning in July 2005, leading to higher costs for consumers for more than a year.

    J&J and Novartis’s Dutch companies were each fined.

    In the statement, Almunia said companies should “think twice” before entering into such agreements, which have been the focus of a widespread crackdown for various regulators around the globe.

    Full Content: Reuters

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