Belgian anti-trust regulators are probing Roche over concerns that the drug company took steps to delay the entry of biosimilar versions of two of its cancer medicines.
In a brief statement, the Belgian Competition Authority alleged that Roche offered financial incentives to hospitals between 2017 and 2020 to deter them from considering competitive bids from other pharmaceutical companies that could supply similar medicines. The agency also maintained Roche disseminated “erroneous information” about using biosimilars in combination therapy.
At the time, the regulator alleged Roche dominated the market for two medicines — rituximab and trastuzumab — and that its tactics induced hospitals to continue purchasing the treatments exclusively from the company, even though biosimilars were available. Biosimilars are nearly identical variants of brand-name biologic medicines that yield the same health outcomes but at a lower cost.
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