European Court upholds AZ Losec judgement

The General Court of the EU has upheld the European Commission’s 2005 decision that AstraZeneca were guilty of blocking cheaper generic medicines coming to the market.

The case related to AZ breaching EU rules by “blocking or delaying market access” for generic versions of its proton pump inhibitor ulcer treatment Losec from 1993 to 2000.

The Court had originally imposed a €60 million fine, but this has now been reduced to €52.5 million because the Commission failed to prove that AstraZeneca’s deregistration of marketing authorisations in some member states would have had an impact on parallel imports.

But the court agreed with the Commission's initial findings in 2005 that AZ had provided “misleading information” to patent offices in six northern European countries.

The Court said in statement: "The General Court essentially upholds the decision of the Commission which found that the AstraZeneca Group abused its dominant position by preventing the marketing of generic products replicating Losec."

Responding to the decision, European industry body EFPIA said: “Although EFPIA needs to study this judgment in detail, the Court appears to have dismissed the competitive constraint imposed by existing alternative treatments. This could potentially have a chilling effect on pro-competitive commercial conduct and ultimately on innovation in Europe.”

AZ now has two months to appeal against the ruling at the European Court of Justice.

Ben Adams