Agreements in the pharmaceutical industry

10.12.2014

Question for oral answer O-000094/2014
to the Commission
Rule 128
Dominique Bilde, Sophie Montel, Mireille D'Ornano, Steeve Briois, Florian Philippot, Mylène Troszczynski, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marie-Christine Arnautu, Bruno Gollnisch, Dominique Martin, Rikke Karlsson, Harald Vilimsky, Georg Mayer, Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Marine Le Pen, Gerolf Annemans, Mara Bizzotto, Rolandas Paksas, Mario Borghezio, Gianluca Buonanno, Nicolas Bay, Edouard Ferrand, Jean-François Jalkh, Sylvie Goddyn, Philippe Loiseau, Gilles Lebreton, Louis Aliot, Bernard Monot, Joëlle Mélin, Matteo Salvini, Piernicola Pedicini, Marco Zanni, Marco Valli, Marco Zullo, Laura Agea, Daniela Aiuto, Tiziana Beghin, Dario Tamburrano, David Borrelli, Laura Ferrara, Ignazio Corrao, Eleonora Evi, Giulia Moi, Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Isabella Adinolfi, Rosa D'Amato, Marco Affronte

In January 2008 the Commission launched a sector inquiry into the pharmaceutical industry and, on 3 December 2010, confirmed that some surprise inspections had been carried out in this sector.

While many agreements are governed by national competition law and are thus excluded from the scope of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, others are fully governed by EU law.

The European Union, usually so prompt in denouncing all forms of protectionism and barriers to competition, appears to show less concern with regard to the agreements between major pharmaceutical companies and their competitors specialising in the production of generic medicines.

Indeed, it would appear that fewer novel medicines are entering the market and the arrival of generics often appears to be delayed.

1. Can the Commission clearly explain the conclusions of its inquiries and the measures it intends to take to prevent agreements from being drawn up in the pharmaceutical sector, be it within the Union or with companies from non-EU countries?

2. Will the Commission impose fines on the pharmaceutical groups which misuse this practice? We would point out that it can impose fines from EUR 1000 to EUR 1 million, but that this amount can be as high as 10% of the company's turnover.