EU Opens Formal Probe Against Teva For Anticompetitive Conduct - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation against Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) to assess whether it has illegally delayed the market entry and uptake of medicines that compete with its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone.

The Commission will investigate whether Teva has abused a dominant market position in breach of EU antitrust rules.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic illness affecting the daily lives of more than half a million Europeans requiring life-long treatment. Copaxone, Teva's best selling drug, is widely used for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient glatiramer acetate.

The commission said it is paramount to preserve healthy competition in the market for available drugs that aim at slowing down multiple sclerosis and improving patients' quality of life as humanity has not yet found a treatment for this disease, which remains incurable.

If proven, Teva's behaviour may amount to an abuse of dominant position and infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 54 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement.