Teva faces European Union antitrust fine over shenanigans to thwart rivals
Pharmaceutical giant accused of disparaging competitor’s multiple sclerosis medicine and misusing patent system to shield own Copaxone product
BRUSSELS — Teva, the world’s largest generic drugmaker, will be hit with an European Union antitrust fine in the coming weeks for disparaging a rival product to its blockbuster multiple sclerosis medicine Copaxone, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
The European Commission in 2022 charged the Israeli company with breaching EU antitrust rules, saying its anti-competitive practices included misusing the patent system to artificially extend Copaxone’s patent and shield it from competition.
The EU competition enforcer’s tough line underscores its concerns that such practices could stifle innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, with countries constrained by tight healthcare budgets.
The Commission declined to comment. Teva did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The long-running case against Teva started with EU dawn raids in 2019 that led to the opening of an investigation in 2021.
Companies found guilty of EU antitrust violations risk fines of as much as 10 percent of their global annual turnover, although this is rare.
In August 2020, the US sued Teva for artificially raising the price of Copaxone and other drugs.
During a 19-month period from 2013 to 2015, Teva was said to have significantly raised prices on around 112 generic drugs and colluded on at least 86 other drugs, the US said in the suit. Some of the increases were more than 1,000%.
Patients would have paid a total of $350 million more than they should have, the US Justice Department said at the time.
Teva settled similar litigation with US antitrust authorities in 2015.
Generic products are far cheaper than brand medicines and lead to huge savings to patients and health care providers while remaining just as effective.
But in so-called pay-for-delay deals, drug makers secretly compensate generic rivals to thwart the introduction of cheaper versions of blockbuster drugs for an agreed-upon time.
Drugmakers argue that the arrangement allows them sufficient time to recoup expensive research and marketing costs incurred in bringing their products to market.
Teva and its subsidiary Cephalon were fined 60.5 million euros ($66.7 million) in 2020 for agreeing to delay a cheaper generic version of Cephalon’s sleep disorder medicine, part of the EU’s crackdown on so-called pay-for-delay deals between brand name drugmakers and their generic rivals.
