UPDATE: AstraZeneca Loses Bid To Overturn Antitrust Fine

1st Jul 2010 11:20

(Updates on AstraZeneca's bid to have fine overturned, adds detail.) By Mike Gordon and Carolyn Henson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LUXEMBOURG (Dow Jones)--AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) Thursday lost its bid to overturn an antitrust fine imposed on the pharmaceuticals giant in 2005 for trying to squeeze out competition for its ulcer capsule Losec. The General Court of the European Union upheld a 2005 European Commission decision that found the company misled patent offices in Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and the U.K. over the date on which it won marketing approval for Losec, and so had gained longer patent protection for the drug. The court also partly backed the commission's ruling that the company had tried to delay the entry of rival generic drugs to Losec to the pharmaceuticals market by deregistering Losec's marketing approval in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, in a bid to increase the administrative burden of registering the alternative pills. The court, however, reduced the initial EUR60 million fine to EUR52.5 million. It said the commission hadn't proven its charge that AstraZeneca's deregistering of the marketing approval had hampered competition from parallel imports of Losec from other member states at cheaper prices. -By Mike Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; +352 691 180 766; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 01, 2010 06:20 ET (10:20 GMT)