Press Release: Antitrust: Commission fines Lundbeck and other pharma companies for delaying market entry of generic medicines

The European Commission has imposed a fine of €938m on Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck and fines totalling €522m on several producers of generic medicines. In 2002, Lundbeck agreed with each of these companies to delay the market entry of cheaper generic versions of Lundbeck's branded citalopram, a blockbuster antidepressant. These agreements violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit anticompetitive agreements (Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – TFEU). These generic companies were notably Alpharma (now part of Zoetis), Merck KGaA/Generics UK (Generics UK is now part of Mylan), Arrow (now part of Actavis), and Ranbaxy.

• Primary Source

EUObserver, 20.06.13: EU fines Danish pharma-giant in first 'pay for delay' case http://euobserver.com/social/120563

Wikipedia, Citalopram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citalopram

European Commission: Rapid: SPEECH/13/553: Commission fines Lundbeck and other pharma companies for delaying market entry of generic medicines: statement by Vice-President Almunia http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-13-553_en.htm

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