Court cuts antitrust fine imposed on AstraZeneca
Further appeal likely
A European Union court has reduced to €52.5m from €60m an antitrust fine imposed on Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca for abusing its dominant position in the market by blocking or delaying generic versions of its ulcer drug Losec.
The appeal case goes back to 2005.
The Luxembourg-based General Court largely upheld the European Commission’s finding that AstraZeneca had abused its dominant position by preventing market access for generic products, but said the European Commission had failed to establish that deregistration of the marketing authorisations for Losec in three Scandinavian countries was capable of restricting parallel imports, hence the reduction in the fine.
The court fined AstraZeneca €46m and subsidiary AstraZeneca AB €14m.
AstraZeneca said it was disappointed with the ruling and it is thought a further appeal might be possible.
