A spokesman for Teva UK told Reuters that the group's British offices were visited and that the firm is co-operating with European Medicines Agency (EMEA) officials. Servier also said it had been visited by inspectors at its offices in UK and its headquarters in Paris.
European Commission (EC) spokesman Jonathan Todd told in-PharmaTechnologist that the Commission is unable to comment on any on any of the specific companies linked to the raids this week.
In an interview with the New York Times, Todd said that although the most recent actions are not related to the antitrust investigation initiated earlier this year, they may have arisen as a result of information gathered during the previous investigations.
The EC first began investigating the drug industry in January after forming the opinion that: “competition in pharmaceutical markets in Europe may not be working well: fewer new pharmaceuticals are being brought to market, and the entry of generics…seems to be delayed.”
The EC has focused on examining the agreements between big pharma firms and generics producers, including settlements in patent disputes and deals covering “authorised generics,” to see if they are in breach of rules designed to combat restrictive business practices.
As part of this enquiry, the EC carried out inspections of a number of major players in the European pharmaceutical market, including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Sanofi Aventis earlier in the year.
Todd said that European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes will present the preliminary findings of this report tomorrow. The press conference can be accessed here.