Bethel Finance news:
European Union antitrust regulators announced on Thursday that they are investigating allegations that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq:TEVA; TASE:TEVA) and Cephalon Inc. worked together to keep a generic version of sleep-disorder drug Provigil out of the European market. Provigil had sales of $1.12 billion for Cephalon in 2010.
In 2005, Teva and Cephalon settled patent disputes relating to Provigil - which is also known as Modafinil in the US and UK.
As part of that deal, Teva agreed not to sell its generic version of Provigil in the EU as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway before Oct. 2012, the EU's antitrust regulators claim.
The European Commission is now investigating whether that agreement broke EU antitrust regulations and had the "object or effect" of keeping generic Provigil out of the European market.
"Pay-for-delay" deals between brand-name and generic drug makers have come under scrutiny from competition authorities in both North America and Europe. Regulators are concerned that such agreements harm consumers who have to pay much higher prices for the brand-name drugs even after patents expire.
The US Federal Trade Association filed a lawsuit against Cephalon in 2008, alleging the company paid off potential competitors to keep a cheaper version Provigil off the market.
Teva said, "We confirm that we have received notification from the EU authorities that they are planning to open proceedings relating to alleged violations of competition rules. The authority wants to clarify matters regarding the 2005 commercial agreement between Teva and Cephalon. The notification explicitly says that the initiation of proceedings does not indicate any legal violations. Teva will continue cooperating with the European authorities and all other authorities and we believe that we worked within the law in every instance."
Teva's share price rose 0.33% on Nasdaq on Thursday to $46.13, giving a market cap of $41.42 billion.
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