(NewDesignWorld Press Center) - Brussels - The Commission has closed an investigation into Les Laboratoires Servier for suspected provision of misleading and incorrect information to the Commission’s pharmaceuticals sector inquiry.
In 2010, the Commission addressed statements of objections to Les Laboratoires Servier and Servier SAS, a French pharmaceutical company, taking the provisional view that Servier had provided misleading and incorrect information in reply to a request for information in the context of the pharmaceutical sector inquiry. In its reply to the statement of objections Servier put forward various arguments as to why the information it supplied was neither misleading nor incorrect. In light of Servier’s arguments which would require significant further investigation, the Commission has decided to close the case, and instead focus on the substantive enforcement of competition rules in a number of pending cases, including one involving Servier.
In July 2009, the Commission opened a case against Servier and a number of other companies for suspected breaches of the rules on restrictive agreements (Article 101) and on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 102 see MEMO/09/322). This investigation is currently on-going.
In 2008-2009, the Commission carried out a broad competition inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector with a particular focus on practices to delay the market entry of generic medicines, which can cause significant consumer harm.
