The antitrust regulator in Spain has fined Merck approximately $39 million for preventing a competitor from marketing a generic version of a hormonal contraceptive, the latest effort by a European government to crack down on anti-competitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry.
In explaining its decision, the National Markets and Competition Commission, or CNMC, pointed to a 2017 court action in which Merck accused another company, Insud Pharma, of violating a patent for a vaginal ring called Nuvaring, the only such product sold in Spain at the time. Merck successfully sought an injunction to prevent Insud from manufacturing and selling a rival product.
However, the regulator determined that Merck withheld “relevant factual and technical information” from the court, which had halted the marketing and sale of the Insud vaginal ring between September and December 2017, when the injunction was lifted. By then, though, production and distribution was hampered since Insud operated only one factory, which was located in Spain.
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