BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Fee has fined pharmaceutical firm Teva and its now subsidiary Cephalon 60.5 million euros ($72 million) for agreeing to delay a less expensive generic model of Cephalon’s sleep problem medication.
The advantageous is the fourth and last penalty following a collection of EU antitrust investigations begun 11 years in the past into “pay-for-delay” drug offers. Earlier fines in 2013 and 2014 associated to a cardiovascular medication of Servier, an anti-depressant of Lundbeck and a Johnson & Johnson painkiller.
The settlement with Teva to delay the market entry of the generic drug modafinil after Cephalon’s foremost patents had expired brought about substantial hurt to EU sufferers and healthcare methods by retaining the price excessive, the Fee stated on Thursday.
Modafinil is used to deal with extreme daytime sleepiness related to narcolepsy and was Cephalon’s top-selling product below the model Provigil for years, accounting for 40% of Cephalon’s worldwide turnover.
The primary patents for Europe expired by 2005 and the unlawful settlement lasted from December 2005 to October 2011, when Teva acquired Cephalon, the Fee stated.
Cephalon induced Teva to not enter the market with a less expensive generic model in exchange for a package deal of business side-deals helpful to Teva and a few cash funds, the Fee stated.
Teva held its personal patents associated to modafinil’s manufacturing course of, was able to enter the market and had even began promoting its generic in Britain earlier than agreeing to cease, the Fee stated.
Generic entry can result in price drops of as much as 90%. Certainly, when Teva did briefly introduce its generic in Britain, it set a price 50% decrease than Provigil.
Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop;Enhancing by Elaine Hardcastle
