Canada's Competition Bureau says not enough evidence to show abuse of dominance by Janssen

The Canadian Competition Bureau announced yesterday that it is closing an investigation into allegations of abuse of dominance by Janssen, a Canadian subsidiary of US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

The Bureau's investigation considered whether Janssen was engaging in conduct that shielded its biologic drug, Remicade (infliximab), from competition from biosimilar drugs, like Inflectra, from South Korean biopharmaceutical company Celltrion’s (Kosdaq: 068270), and Renflexis, from South Korea’s Samsung Bioepis. This included allegations of predatory pricing, as well as other conduct that could exclude or disadvantage biosimilar competitors.

After a careful review of the facts, the Bureau has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that Janssen's conduct has substantially lessened or prevented competition in a relevant market. Therefore, at this time, the Bureau is unable to conclude that the Competition Act has been contravened.