For copycat drugmaker Alvogen and British Big Pharma AstraZeneca, the cost of allegedly stalling generics to AZ’s cancer drug Zoladex in Korea is just $1.82 million, or 2.6 billion Korean won.
That’s the total sum Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined the companies for their alleged plot, local news outlet Yonhap News Agency firsted reported Thursday.
The charge breaks down differently for each company, with AstraZeneca getting off lighter with a fine of 1.1 billion won, or about $767,000. New Jersey-based generics maker Alvogen, for its part, has been asked to pay 1.5 billion won, which works out to some $1 million.
"We have detected and regulated collusion, in which the parties agreed to ban the production and release of a generic under development," Korea’s FTC said in a statement, as quoted by Yonhap.
An AstraZeneca Korea spokesperson said via email that the company has “fully cooperated” with the Korean watchdog’s investigation and respects the FTC’s decision, noting the company “believed at the time” that it “was acting in good faith in compliance with the law.”
As for the nature of AZ and Alvogen’s reported scheme, Yonhap says Alvogen suspended a plan to release its generic version of Zoladex in exchange for exclusive rights to market three other drugs made by AstraZeneca. Zoladex is used to treat both breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Alvogen has yet to release its Zoladex generic, Yonhap added.
While Zoladex is no Tagrisso, Imfinzi or Lynparza, the drug still managed to bring home $948 million in sales for AstraZeneca last year. The vast majority of that haul, or about $619 million, came from sales of the drug in emerging markets.
While the 1.1 billion won fine ultimately amounts to chump change for AstraZeneca, it marks yet another example of a local government muscling in on potential anticompetitive behavior by a pharma company.
Earlier this week, the European Commission said that following an investigation into the marketing practices around Teva Pharmaceutical’s multiple sclerosis med Copaxone, it had made the preliminary call that Teva breached European antitrust rules by angling to delay Copaxone competition.
The EC specifically accused the Israeli-American generics giant of “artificially” extending Copaxone’s patent protection, plus it alleged Teva “systematically” spread “misleading information” about a rival product.
Last month, meanwhile, the Swiss Competition Commission dropped by Novartis’ headquarters in Basel as part of an investigation into possible unlawful use of a patent to stymie competition.
“The opening of an investigation does not imply any finding of wrongdoing or any financial impact,” Novartis said in mid-September, noting it was “fully cooperating” with authorities.