EU Commission opens formal antitrust proceedings against Danish drugmaker Lundbeck

As part of its ongoing questioning of the activities of European pharmaceutical companies, which have, over the past, included 'dawn raids' on their premises (The Pharma Letters passim), the European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Denmark-headquartered drugmaker Lundbeck to examine potential breaches of European Union rules on restrictive business practices and on the abuse of a dominant market position under Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

The Commission, in particular, intends to investigate unilateral behaviour and agreements by Lundbeck which may hinder the entry of generic citalopram, an antidepressant drug originated by the Danish firm, into markets in the European Economic Area.

Acknowledging that it had been advised of the action, Lundbeck said it is 'cooperating fully with the European Commission,' and 'is confident that the group has complied with all relevant national and EU competition legislation.' It also said that the investigation would have no influence on 2009 financial results. Shares in Lundbeck were unfazed by the announcement and rose 1.8% to 98.25 Danish kroner by 1141 GMT, against the trend of a falling DJ Stoxx European health care sector index, noted Reuters.