BRUSSELS: The European Commission has fined pharmaceutical company Teva and its now subsidiary Cephalon 60.5 million euros ($72 million) for agreeing to delay a cheaper generic version of Cephalon’s sleep disorder medicine.
The fine is the fourth and final penalty following a series of EU antitrust investigations begun 11 years ago into “pay-for-delay” drug deals. Previous fines in 2013 and 2014 related to a cardiovascular medicine of Servier, an anti-depressant of Lundbeck and a Johnson & Johnson painkiller.
The agreement with Teva to delay the market entry of the generic drug modafinil after Cephalon’s main patents had expired caused substantial harm to EU patients and healthcare systems by keeping the price high, the Commission said on Thursday.
Modafinil is used to treat excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy and was Cephalon’s top-selling product under the brand Provigil for years, accounting for 40% of Cephalon’s worldwide turnover.
The main patents for Europe expired by 2005 and the illegal agreement lasted from December 2005 to October 2011, when Teva acquired Cephalon, the Commission said.
Cephalon induced Teva not to enter the market with a cheaper generic version in exchange for a package of commercial side-deals beneficial to Teva and some cash payments, the Commission said.
Teva held its own patents related to modafinil’s production process, was ready to enter the market and had even started selling its generic in Britain before agreeing to stop, the Commission said.
Generic entry can lead to price drops of up to 90%. Indeed, when Teva did briefly introduce its generic in Britain, it set a price 50% lower than Provigil.
($1 = 0.8398 euros)
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