Unichem to appeal imposition of fine by European Commission

Unichem Laboratories today said it will appeal against the European Commission's decision in the European Union courts, denying any wrong doing by it or its subsidiary Niche Generics.
"Unichem will vigourously appeal the European Commission decision to the EU courts and seek to attain the correct result in this matter, a result which is in the best interests of the consumer," Unichem Laboratories said in a filing to the BSE.
The company vehemently denies any wrong doing on the part of either itself or Niche, it added.
"Moreover, Unichem was not involved in the agreement to settle the litigation with Servier back in 2005 as it only took full ownership of Niche late in 2006," Unichem said.

The company cannot in anyway see how it can be held accountable for what was in any event a pre-competitive act on part of its then only part-owned subsidiary Niche, it added.
Yesterday, the European regulator had imposed a collective fine of 427.7 million euros on six global drug makers including Indian drug firms Unichem Laboratories and Lupin for striking deals to prevent entry of cheaper version of blood pressure drug Perindopril in the EU.

As per the European Commission Anti-trust ruling, Lupin has been fined 40 million euros (nearly Rs 325 crore), while Unichem Laboratories was fined 13.96 million euros (over Rs 110 crore).

The companies have been pulled up for striking a series of deals with French firm Servier, which used to sell patented perindopril drug, so that cheaper copies of the drug were not launched in the EU.
Besides Servier, the other drug makers on whom the European Commission has imposed fines totaling 427.7 million euros are Matrix (now part of Mylan), Teva and Krka.
Commenting on the ruling, European Commission Vice-President Joaquin Almunia, in charge of competition policy, had said: "Servier had a strategy to systematically buy out any competitive threats to make sure that they stayed out of the market. Such behaviour is clearly anti-competitive and abusive."

Competitors cannot agree to share markets or market rents instead of competing, even when these agreements are in the form of patent settlements, he added.
"Such behaviour violates EU antitrust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position," Commission had said.
Shares of Unichem Laboratories were trading at Rs 205 per scrip in the afternoon trade on BSE, down 5.73 per cent from the previous close.