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Big pharmaceuticals raided in patent probe |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 |
 Some of the largest drug firms have been raided as part of a European Union inquiry into the use of patents
According to the BBC, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis confirmed they were involved in the sector-wide investigation and co-operating fully.
The reason for the raids according to the EU Competition commissioner is because the regulator suspected that
drug firms had conspired to delay the introduction of cheap generic drugs.
The investigation aims to ensure that governments and consumers were getting new
products and good value for money
The commissioner cited a 2005 ruling in which AstraZeneca was fined 60m euros after the
commission found the company had delayed market entry of rivals to an ulcer drug
by misusing the patent.
This is the EU Compeititon Commission doing what they do best. Trying to make things more efficient and beneficial to the consumers by eliminating bad practices.
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