Europe supports access to health care

On 8 September 2016, the Court of First Instance of the European Union confirmed the fine imposed by the Commission on several pharmaceutical companies due to the measures that these had put in place to delay the arrival of generic versions of a citalopram-based medicinal product on the market.

Noticing the expiration of its relative rights of exclusivity for the bringing to the market of an antidepressant medicine, a pharmaceutical company had concluded conventions with generic medicinal products’ producers to incite them not to enter on the market and so to guarantee to the producer of the original medicine an extension of its monopoly on this market.

By validating the decision of the European Commission which had imposed a fine on different concerned operators, the Court confirms an established case-law which guarantees a wider access to medicinal products, in particular through generic medicinal products.

This decision, if it sanctions the concerned firms, does not repair the damage suffered by the Social Security nor by the patients who have paid uselessly substantial amounts to this pharmaceutical firm while they would have been able to benefit from a cheaper medicine.

The Court’s decision establishes nevertheless with the force of res judicata the fault of the concerned firms and thus offers to the national authorities and to the patients a starting point for an action for damages against these companies”.