Pfizer will have to pay 13 million euros to the state. Here because
The Court of Cassation confirmed Pfizer Italia's conviction for abuse of a dominant position regarding its drug that treats glaucoma. Here's what happened
The Court of Appeal had already ruled on the issue but the confirmation of the sentence has now also arrived from the Supreme Court: Pfizer Italia, a branch of the US multinational, will have to pay a huge compensation in favor of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and that of Health for abuse of a dominant position in the market of "prostaglandins", for the treatment of glaucoma.
WHAT HAD HAPPENED
As established first by the Court of Appeal and then by the Supreme Court, between 2009 and 2010, Pfizer Italia delayed the access of generic drugs for the treatment of glaucoma to the Italian market by seven months, even though they were already available and had a cost much more contained.
PFIZER'S DRUG FOR GLAUCOMA
In particular, according to the judges, Pfizer Italia favored its drug Xalatan , the company's flagship product and market leader for the treatment of the pathology, to the detriment of generics. Xalatan in fact contains the active ingredient latanoprost , whose patent expired in September 2009. A term that the pharmaceutical giant would have circumvented with a divisional patent and a certificate of complementary protection.
PFIZER'S DEFENSE AND THE RULING OF THE COURT OF APPEALS
The multinational had defended itself by stating that it was only a way of protecting its legitimate property right and had appealed against the sentence of the Court of Appeal of Rome which, Radiocor recalls, "in 2021, had condemned the company to compensate the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economy 13,360,464.00 euros (plus interest) for the higher cost incurred for the reimbursement of the drug 'Xalatan' (included in 'band A') instead of the 'generic' drug whose release on the market (as ascertained in 2012 by the Agcm) had been delayed by the 'overall conduct' of the multinational”.
The damage was estimated, the Court established, by taking into account the difference in the price of the drugs, multiplied by the number of packages of Xalatan marketed in the period between October 2009 and May 2010.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MAXI COMPENSATION
Unlike Pfizer, the judges considered that its behavior was aimed at excluding competitors and for this reason yesterday the Court of Cassation also confirmed the maxi-compensation of over 13 million euros in favor of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and that of Health, taking into account the costs incurred by the National Health Service from October 2009 to May 2010, which had to reimburse a class A drug in place of those of the same therapeutic category but generic.
WHAT IS GLAUCOMA
Glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness in the world, is a chronic degenerative disease that almost always affects both eyes and affects the optic nerve.
As the Ministry of Health explains , only in some cases can it manifest itself in an acute form, with violent eye pain, nausea, strong irritation and very high eye pressure. Glaucoma is almost always due to an increase in the internal pressure of the eye which causes, over time, permanent damage to vision which is accompanied by a reduction in the visual field, thus narrowing the space that the eye can perceive without moving the eye. head; and alteration of the 'head' of the optic nerve, visible on examination of the ocular fundus.
DATA ON GLAUCOMA IN THE WORLD AND IN ITALY
According to the World Report on Vision 2019 by the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 64 million people suffer from glaucoma worldwide. Among these, 7 million experienced vision loss or blindness.
In Italy it is estimated that there are around one million people affected by this disease, but half of them don't know it. Prevention through periodic comprehensive eye examinations is essential for early diagnosis, which can save vision and preserve quality of life in most cases.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/pfizer-dovra-pagare-13-milioni-di-euro/ on Wed, 03 Jan 2024 10:05:51 +0000.