EU fines Teva for blocking cheaper generic drugs
European Union antitrust regulators fined French drugmaker Servier, Israel's Teva and four others a total of 428 million euros ($583 million) on Wednesday for blocking cheaper generic medicine.
The sanctions are the third by the European Commission against so-called pay-for-delay deals in the pharmaceutical industry, where brand-name drugmakers pay cheaper non-brand generics firms to hold back from launching rival medicines.
"Servier had a strategy to systematically buy out any competitive threats to make sure that they stayed out of the market. Such behaviour is clearly anti-competitive and abusive," European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.
