European antitrust regulators want you to know that fighting crime in the pharmaceutical industry pays.
Between 2018 and 2022, the European Commission and antitrust regulators in numerous European countries adopted 26 decisions concerning anti-competitive practices by drug companies by imposing more than $845 million in fines or accepting legally binding commitments by manufacturers to alter their corporate behaviors. All totaled, there were 70 investigations, and 30 remain ongoing, according to a new report.
The troubling practices ranged from misusing the patent system, including with “abusive” lawsuits designed to prolong patent exclusivity; disparaging rival medicines in order to protect dominant market shares; pay-for-delay deals in which brand-name and generic companies conspired to keep lower-cost medicines from reaching consumers sooner; and excessive prices charged for drugs that lost patent protection.