EU Commission fines pharma firms for price fixing

In the first time the regulator has acted against an active pharmaceutical ingredient cartel, the European Commission has fined five companies for price-fixing for the antispasmodic butylscopolamine. Alkaloids of Australia, Alkaloids Corporation, Boehringer Ingelheim, Linnea, and Transo-Pharm will have to pay a total of $14.2 million. A sixth firm, C² Pharma, was not fined because it revealed the price-fixing to the commission. All six admitted their involvement and agreed to settle the case. A seventh firm, Alchem, did not settle; the investigation in that case is ongoing.