Brussels, 10/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 10 December, the European Commission imposed fines of €10,798,000 on the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and €5,493,000 on Novartis of Switzerland. In July 2005, their respective Dutch subsidiaries concluded an anticompetitive agreement to delay the market entry of a cheaper generic version of the pain-killer fentanyl in the Netherlands, in breach of EU antitrust rules. Fentanyl is a pain-killer 100 times more potent than morphine. It is used notably for patients suffering from cancer. The deal was revealed in December 2006, when a third party was in the process of launching a generic fentanyl patch. The cartel delayed the launch of cheaper generic patches on the market by 17 months, thus artificially keeping up the price of fentanyl in the Netherlands. (FG/transl.fl)