RO Competition Council slaps heavy fine on Roche for abuse of dominant position

Romania’s Competition Council fined the pharmaceutical company Roche Romania with RON 60 million (EUR 12.8 mln) for abuse of dominant position on the market of oncological products, following investigations started in 2017.

“In the first investigation, the competition authority found that, in the period 2017 - 2019, Roche adopted a commercial strategy aimed at eliminating competition at auctions and delaying the entry of similar drugs on the market. During the year 2017, Roche's behavior was manifested in the context of participating in the centralized public procurement for drugs containing the substances Rituximab and Trastuzumab, within the national oncology program, as well as in 47 tenders organized at hospital level for the supply of the same medicines,” the Competition Council said in a press release, quoted by Economica.net.

The company claims that the competition body didn’t consider the evidence it provided in its defence, including a final court decision related to the investigations about the centralised tender for oncological drugs, which cleared the company from any accusations.

Furthermore, Roche said in a comment about the competition body’s decision that it is going to file criminal complaints against all those involved in the investigation.

Swiss group Hoffman La Roche was also involved in the past in a scandal related to bribing doctors in Romania for prescribing its drugs to their patients.

(Photo: Roche Media Library)