On Thursday 19 October, the European Commission announced that it had imposed fines totalling €13.4 million on six companies in the pharmaceuticals sector that engaged in a cartel between 1 November 2005 and 17 September 2019: Alkaloids of Australia, Alkaloids Corporation, Boehringer, Linnea and Transo-Pharm, with C2 PHARMA benefitting from the European leniency programme as it disclosed the cartel to the Commission and was exempted from fines.
The cartel, which took place within the European Economic Area (EEA), concerned an active pharmaceutical ingredient: N-Butylbromide Scopolamine/ Hyoscine (SNBB), an ingredient used to make the abdominal pain medicine Buscopan and its generic versions.
The companies exchanged commercially sensitive information and coordinated their positions, thereby reducing competition. They agreed on a minimum sales price of SNBB to customers. In addition, the companies divided up the market by allocating quotas.
Restrictive agreements and business practices are prohibited in the EU and EEA by Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement.
These companies have acknowledged the facts and accepted the settlement procedure. Transo-Pharm and Linnea have benefited from a reduction in their fines due to their cooperation in the investigation. In addition, as the companies acknowledged their participation in the cartel, the Commission reduced the fines imposed by 10%, in accordance with the 2008 communication on settlement procedures.
A seventh company, Alchem, is the subject of a Commission investigation in this context, but has decided not to settle. The investigation will continue under the normal procedure.
The European Commission states that this is the first time it has imposed a fine for a cartel in the pharmaceutical sector involving an active pharmaceutical ingredient.
The Commission’s investigation involved cooperation with the Swiss and Australian competition authorities.
Link to the table of fines imposed: https://aeur.eu/f/950 (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)