European regulators will clamp down on “pay-for-delay” deals in the pharmaceutical sector this month, fining Denmark's Lundbeck, India's Ranbaxy and seven other generic drug manufacturers for limiting access of cheaper products to the market.
Following an inquiry launched in 2009, the European Commission, the EU's anti-trust regulator, will impose a "significant" fine on Lundbeck and lesser fines on Germany's Merck KGaA and seven smaller drug firms when it announces the sanctions later this month, two officials said.
The Commission can fine a company up to 10 per cent of its global revenue for breaching EU antitrust laws, which in Lundbeck's case would be up to 240 million euros.
Officials gave no indication of the precise size of the fines apart from to say it will be sizeable in Lundbeck's case.
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