The Commission announced on 21 October that it is investigating whether contractual arrangements between Johnson & Johnson and Novartis may have breached Article 101 by hindering the entry of generic versions of the painkiller Fentanyl onto the Dutch market. Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis, markets generic versions of Fentanyl on markets where the Johnson & Johnson patent has expired. This investigation is the latest in a series of investigations currently being carried out by the Commission into "pay for delay" arrangements between originator and generic pharmaceutical companies. Investigations are ongoing in the case of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Cephalon Inc over a 2005 agreement suspected of delaying the entry of generic versions of Provigil. Other investigations relate to Les Laboratoires Servier and Lundbeck.
Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia commented that:
"Pharmaceutical companies are already rewarded for their innovation efforts by the patents they are granted. Paying a competitor to stay out of the market is a restriction of competition that the Commission will not tolerate."
The European Commission is not alone in looking at arrangements suspected of delaying generic market of generics. In October, both GlaxoSmithKline and Generics (UK) Ltd announced that they had been contacted by the OFT in the course of its investigation into potentially anticompetitive agreements in relation to GSK's anti-depressant drug Paroxetine.
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