Lundbeck disagrees with the Statement of Objections issued by the European Commission
Posted: 25 July 2012 | | No comments yet
The European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections to Lundbeck…
H. Lundbeck A/S (Lundbeck) today announces that the European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections to Lundbeck. The Statement of Objections is regarding agreements concluded with four generic competitors concerning citalopram.
A Statement of Objections does not represent the European Commission’s final decision. Any final decision by the Commission is appealable to the European Courts (General Court and then the European Court of Justice). The whole process could take several years to reach a conclusion.
It is Lundbeck’s view that the Group’s business practices are consistent with all relevant national and EU competition legislation.
“Lundbeck’s policy is to comply with all applicable laws, including Competition Laws, and this policy is taken very seriously by the company and its employees”, says Mette Carlstedt, Senior Vice President, Corporate Legal at Lundbeck.
Lundbeck will now carefully review the Statement of Objections and the European Commission’s preliminary findings, and will then submit a reply to the Statement of Objections in order to address the concerns that have been raised. Lundbeck is cooperating fully in the Commission’s investigation.
At this time, Lundbeck has nothing further to add; except that it is confident the allegations made by the Commission should be rejected as groundless.
Background
In 2008, the European Commission initiated a wide-ranging sector inquiry of the pharmaceutical industry to review possible anti-competitive conduct. In 2010, the European Commission opened a formal investigation against Lundbeck to investigate possible infringement of European competition law relating to restrictive business practices and abuse of a dominant market position. Specifically, the Commission has investigated whether Lundbeck’s agreements with generic manufacturers have delayed the entry of generic citalopram into markets in the EEA.
Financial guidance
The content of this release will have no influence on the Lundbeck Group’s financial guidance for 2012 which was provided on 8 February 2012 in connection with the release of the financial results for 2011.
