CAT upholds infringement decision for pay for delay pharma deals
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has upheld the CMA decision that GlaxoSmithKline and some generic suppliers of the anti-depressant paroxetine broke competition law.
From:
10 May 2021
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (Tribunal) has, however, imposed reduced fines of £27.1 million on the firms involved.
Paroxetine is relied on by patients to relieve symptoms of depression. GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) had agreed to make payments totalling £50 million to other generic suppliers of paroxetine, including Generics (UK) Limited (GUK) and Alpharma Limited (Alpharma), in settlement of patent litigation.
In a decision issued in 2016, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that these payments were aimed at delaying the potential entry of these competitors supplying generic medicines into the UK market and were unlawful. The CMA imposed fines totalling £44.99 million on the companies directly involved in the inf