European antitrust investigators are expanding the scope of a major inquiry into the €484 billion pharmaceutical market in a bid to determine whether companies are blocking generics makers from getting less-expensive medicines to market quickly.
Lawyers and European Union officials said Neelie Kroes, the European Union competition commissioner, was also casting her net widely in a bid to determine whether drug companies' efforts to block competitors by extending patents were also distracting them from developing new medicines, which have been slow in coming to market in recent years.
Investigators, who questioned about 100 companies early this year, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis, are now turning to about 80 medical organizations, including associations of doctors, patients and pharmacies, and government agencies that set the prices of prescription drugs in Europe. That could make it the broadest antitrust investigation ever in the EU.
Lawyers and European Union officials said Neelie Kroes, the European Union competition commissioner, was also casting her net widely in a bid to determine whether drug companies' efforts to block competitors by extending patents were also distracting them from developing new medicines, which have been slow in coming to market in recent years.
Investigators, who questioned about 100 companies early this year, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis, are now turning to about 80 medical organizations, including associations of doctors, patients and pharmacies, and government agencies that set the prices of prescription drugs in Europe. That could make it the broadest antitrust investigation ever in the EU.
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