EC closes procedural case against Servier

The European Commission said last Friday that it has closed an investigation into Fremch independent drugmaker Laboratoires Servier for suspected provision of misleading and incorrect information to the Commission's pharmaceuticals sector inquiry.

In 2010, the Commission addressed statements of objections to Les Laboratoires Servier and Servier SAS, taking the provisional view that they had provided misleading and incorrect information in reply to a request for information in the context of the pharmaceutical sector inquiry. In its reply to the statement of objections Servier put forward various arguments as to why the information it supplied was neither misleading nor incorrect.

In light of Servier's arguments which would require significant further investigation, the Commission has decided to close the case, and instead focus on the substantive enforcement of competition rules in a number of pending cases, including one involving Servier.