FAS opened a case against “Novartis Pharma” Ltd.

The company is suspected of fixing monopolistically high price for “Tyverb” medicinal drug

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) opened a case against “Novartis Pharma” Ltd. for breaching Clause 1 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”¹.

FAS sees signs of breaking the antimonopoly law in an unfeasible increase of price for a monopoly drug “Tyverb” (the “Lapatinib” International Non-Proprietary Name) by 35 % in January 2016.

The case was initiated upon a statement from the Moscow Government that buys “Tyverb”for patients under the programme of government guarantees of free medical aid to the population.

Head of FAS Department for Control over Social Sphere and Trade, Timophey Nizhegorodtsev, commented the case: “In the course of the investigation “Novartis Pharma” shall have to explain the reasons and justify the growth of prices for “Tyverb” medicinal drug from 118,000 to 159,000 Rub per package in view of the company’s monopolistic position on the market.

¹ Clause 1 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” prohibits actions (omissions) of an economic entity with the dominant position that lead or can lead to preventing, restricting, eliminating competition and (or) infringing the interest of other persons (economic entities) in business activity or consumers at large, particularly, fixing, maintaining monopolistically high price of goods.