EC fines J&J and Novartis 16 million euros over fentanyl pay-for-delay deal

11 December 2013

The European Commission has imposed fines of 10.8 million euros ($14.8 million) on the US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and 5.5 million euros on Swiss drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX) over pay-for-delay deal.

The news comes just a day after the EC released its reports that problematic patent settlements had dropped to a low level in 2012, citing industry awareness of antitrust concerns (The Pharma Letter December 10).

In July 2005, the EC stated, the respective Dutch subsidiaries of J&J and Novartis concluded an anticompetitive agreement to delay the market entry of a cheaper generic version of the opioid pain-killer fentanyl in the Netherlands, in breach of European Union antitrust rules. Fentanyl is a pain-killer 100 times more potent than morphine. It is used notably for patients suffering from cancer.

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