La sévérité de l’UE déconcerte le secteur pharmaceutique [en] 

Sector inquiries are investigations that the European Commission may decide to carry out in economic sectors that do not seem to be working as well as they should or whenever there are indications of anti-competitive practices. 

The Commission launched an inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector by raiding the offices of a number of top pharmaceutical companies in January 2008 (EurActiv 17/01/08), to find out whether anti-competitive practices in the sector have hindered innovation and blocked the entry of cheap generics into the European market. 

The Commission's sectoral inquiry was launched in dramatic fashion in January 2008 with a number of unannounced raids on the offices of top pharmaceutical companies (EurActiv 17/01/08). 

Dawn raids...again 

In a further dramatic development, the Commission announced late last night that it had again, on 24 November, "started inspections in several member states at the premises of a number of pharmaceutical companies" believed to be engaged in "restrictive business practices and/or the abuse of a dominant market position". 

Industry sources told EurActiv that the companies in question include TEVA, one of the largest generic pharmaceutical companies in the world, based in Israel but with branches across Europe, and Servier, a leading French pharmaceutical research company. 

The aim of the EU executive's unprecedented intervention is to find out whether anti-competitive practices in the sector have hindered innovation and blocked the entry of cheap generics into the European market. 

Responding to the inquiry, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), a powerful body representing some 2,200 companies, expressed displeasure over both the "manner and implication" of the dawn raids. 

The official EFPIA submission regretted "the implication that the use of the patent system and recourse to settlement agreements may be unlawful and that the industry may be engaged in vexatious litigation with the apparent effect of slowing innovation and impeding generics' market entry". 

The Commission claimed that the 24 November raids were "not part of the pharmaceutical sector competition inquiry," but admitted that "the knowledge acquired during the sector inquiry has allowed the Commission to draw conclusions on where Commission action based on competition law could be appropriate and effective". 

Commission went too far, lawyers say 

The inquiry was originally launched, said the Commission, because fewer new pharmaceuticals are being brought to market, and the entry of generic pharmaceuticals sometimes seems to be delayed. 

However, this claim is disputed by leading industry and legal experts, who argue that the Commission went too far and was too heavy-handed in its approach. 

European pharmaceutical law experts, speaking to EurActiv on condition of anonymity, claimed that the "Commission seems to have wrongly convinced itself that almost all 'big pharma' companies are out to stop everybody else getting on the market". 

In that respect, the sector inquiry might be useful, they said, "if for no other reason than to educate the Commission as to the real world of the pharmaceutical sector". 

Meanwhile, leading industry experts, who likewise did not wish to be named "at this very sensitive time," told Euractiv that they were "baffled and surprised by the timing of this week's raids". 

"We know nothing about these raids, though the timing could be considered as an attempt to send out a message" ahead of the report by the Commission, they said.

Commission officials did not wish to comment on the content of the inquiry report results before their release on Friday. 

Both the EU executive and EFPIA will deliver press conferences on the sector inquiry in Brussels on Friday morning.