EU court slashes 100 million euros from Servier pay-for-delay fine

A European court on Wednesday reduced a fine by 102.67 million euros ($116.73 million) that enforcers levied against independent French drugmaker Servier over allegations it reached several anti-competitive agreements to delay cheaper versions of blood pressure medicine perindopril, but rejected appeals of fines from most of the other companies involved.

In June last year, Servier appealed to the EU court to slash a 331 million euro antitrust fine, saying regulators had committed multiple errors when they ruled against the company’s pay-for-delay deals with generic rivals three years ago.

According to and edn HUB report, the court has found that the Commission had “made a series of errors” in assessing the case, notably regarding the basis on which patients would choose perindopril over other medicines.