The most popular example is Viagra: the patents expire and a war begins. The pharmaceutical industry sector worries about the future because generic drug manufacturers, who slowly and at extraordinarily low costs, are putting medicine which is no longer covered by patent on the market. The market forecast for the next few years calls for a certain stagnation due to the crisis which also includes the use of medicine, but also because of this phenomenon companies made a deal: it seems that some of them are attempting to pay the generic pharmaceutical manufacturers to not put their patent free products on the market.
In June the exclusive rights to produce Viagra in Italy expire and already for some time the market has been getting ready. But the European Commission observes closely. There are already 3 cases being investigated in which the patent holders arrived at their expiration date and propositioned generic production companies to not produce in exchange for considerable amounts of money. The low prices applied by these pharmaceutical companies intimidate big pharmaceuticals and therefore it is better to pay off but continue to sell at the former high prices of the patent.
It’s the first time Brussels investigates a case of “pay for delay” and shortly an early decision for violating the competition regulation will arrive. The Commission is very satisfied to have discovered this scam and suspects that there will be immediate benefits for citizens and government spending, significantly cutting the cost of the “healthcare bill.”
The phenomenon seems to have slowed down from when the Commission began the investigation, the suspect cases are “collapsing,” even because, if someone were to commit that crime while investigations are open, the fines would be much higher.
L.R.
