Last week, the European Commission announced that it had imposed a half-a-billion dollar fine on Teva, a multinational pharmaceutical firm based in Israel. The company, which specializes in generic drugs, is said to have artificially extended patent protection for its multiple sclerosis drug known as Copaxone. The drug has glatiramer acetate as its active ingredient.
In a statement, the commission argued that the company’s actions may have hindered considerable savings by nations across Europe given that other versions of the medication may be cheaper than Copaxone.
In total, Teva is expected to pay a 462.6 million euro fine. This is in addition to refraining from similar practices in the future. The commission also revealed that Teva had disparaged the development of a competing drug by rival firm, Synthon.
In detail, the Israel-based company had carried out a campaign against Synthon, which is the only other firm with an authorized medication that contains glatiramer acetate. The commission added that Teva had spread information to sow doubt about the therapeutic equivalence, effectiveness, and safety of Synthon’s product.
Officials at Teva mainly targeted physicians and groups involved in drug reimbursement and price, with the intention of blocking and/or slowing down Synthon’s entry into various countries. The information spread by Teva has already been invalidated by health authorities.
Teva disagreed with the decision made by the commission, noting in a statement that the decision was based on legal theories that were untested and not supported by facts. It added that it had been cooperating extensively with the commission since 2019 and had supported the multiple sclerosis community since the late 90s.
The Israel-based company intends to appeal the decision and affirms its commitment to conducting its business ethically and lawfully.
This isn’t the first time the company has been ordered to pay a hefty fine though. In 2023, Teva was instructed to pay $225 million after charges of price fixing related to sales of a medication for lowering cholesterol were brought against it. The U.S. Department of Justice revealed that the company was also directed to divest its business of manufacturing and selling pravastatin, a generic drug of the brand-name drug Pravachol.
Other generic drug manufacturers like Glenmark Pharmaceuticals were also charged with market allocation, bid rigging, and price fixing schemes during this time. The firms involved settled their cases with deferred prosecution agreements. If any case had gone to trial, guilty verdicts would’ve resulted in bans preventing them from taking part in federal health programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
The action taken by the EU Commission and other regulatory bodies is likely to foster a fairer playing field that could benefit other drug makers like Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) that are focused on developing new medications targeting multiple sclerosis.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CLNN
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