BERLIN (Reuters) -Switzerland’s COMCO competition commission terminated an investigation against Novartis into possibly using blocking patents, without consequences, it said on Thursday. COMCO opened the probe in September 2022 to determine whether the pharmaceutical giant intended to unlawfully protect one if its medicines by filing various patent infringement lawsuits, the commission said in a statement. […]
Health
Swiss competition authority closes Novartis probe without consequences
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BERLIN (Reuters) -Switzerland’s COMCO competition commission terminated an investigation against Novartis into possibly using blocking patents, without consequences, it said on Thursday.
COMCO opened the probe in September 2022 to determine whether the pharmaceutical giant intended to unlawfully protect one if its medicines by filing various patent infringement lawsuits, the commission said in a statement.
“The investigation revealed that Novartis’ actions finally were common practice in the field of patent law and, further, did not confirm the above indications of an unlawful restraint of competition,” it said in the statement.
The European Commission, which undertook its own analysis of the case, came to the same conclusion as COMCO, the EU’s director general for competition said on social media platform X.
“Both authorities concluded there was insufficient basis to pursue the case further,” it added.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Sonali Paul and Friederike Heine)