Brussels, 15/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the European Commission fined Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca €60 million for misusing the patent system and the procedures for marketing pharmaceuticals to block or delay market entry for generic competitors to its ulcer drug Losec. The competition spokesperson explained that from 1993 to 2000 AstraZeneca infringed EC and EEA competition rules by blocking or delaying market access for generic versions of Losec and preventing parallel imports of Losec. AstraZeneca did this by: giving misleading information to several national patent offices in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom; misusing rules and procedures applied by the national medicines agencies which issue market authorisations for medicines by selectively deregistering the market authorisations for Losec capsules in Denmark, Norway and Sweden with the intent of blocking or delaying entry by generic firms and parallel traders. The spokesperson indicated that the Commission had taken into account the new aspects of the application of competition rules to amend the fine, whose amount, in effect appears to have no connection with the additional profits made by the company through these practices. In the 1990s, Losec was the prescription medicine with the highest sales in the world.