Pharma Giant Alchem Under Fire for Alleged Price Manipulation

Regulators of EU Antitrust have charged the Indian pharmaceutical company “Alchem International" with participating in a cartel to fix the prices of a crucial ingredient, potentially resulting in a substantial fine for the firm. The European Commission, serving as the EU's competition authority, announced that it had issued a statement of objections to Alchem, detailing the allegations.

The Commission suspects that Alchem has violated EU antitrust regulations by being part of a cartel with other pharmaceutical companies. This cartel allegedly involves the ingredient N-Butylbromide Scopolamine/Hyoscine (SNBB), which is utilised to produce the abdominal antispasmodic drug Buscopan and its generic counterpart.The watchdog reported that Alchem and other members of the cartel collaborated to set a minimum sales price and to distribute quotas, noting that they might have also shared commercially sensitive information with competitors. Margrethe Vestager, EU Antitrust Chief said in a  "As a result, European consumers may have suffered from restricted access to affordable medicines.” Representatives of Alchem in India and Switzerland did not promptly reply to email requests for comments.

Last year, the Commission imposed fines totaling 13.4 million euros ($14.5 million) on Alkaloids of Australia, Alkaloids Corporation, Boehringer, Linnea, and Transo-Pharm for their participation in the cartel. C2 PHARMA was not fined because it had informed the regulator about the cartel. Companies found guilty of violating EU antitrust regulations face fines of up to 10% of their global annual turnover.