Brussels, 10/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a press release issued on Wednesday 9 December, the European Commission confirmed that it had carried out surprise inspections at the premises of several companies active in the pharmaceutical industry in several member states. It said it had reason to believe that the provisions of the EC Treaty prohibiting restrictive business practices and/or the abuse of a dominant position may have been infringed. As is usual, the Commission did not reveal the companies involved. During such inspections, Commission officials are accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities. During a similar operation carried out in October, the Sanofi-Aventis group, the French subsidiary of German manufacturer of generic medicines Radiopharm, and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd admitted that they had been inspected by Commission officials. On Wednesday, Danish firm H Lundbeck A/S confirmed that it had been one of the companies inspected, but Sanofi-Aventis, US company Merck and German firms Bayer, Stada and Boehringer Ingelheim said that their premises had not been searched. Inspections of the kind conducted on Wednesday are a preliminary step in the investigation of suspected anticompetitive practices, but do not prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself, it was stressed in Brussels. (O.L./transl.rt)