Romania’s Competition Council has started an investigation on a possible agreement between some international pharmaceutical companies that produce immunoglobulin to coordinate their strategy on the Romanian market.

The competition authority suspects that these companies may have agreed to limit or stop the immunoglobulin supply to the Romanian market to force the local authorities to eliminate the clawback tax and thus get a better tax framework for themselves.

The investigation targets companies that are part of the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA), namely Biotest Pharma GmbH (Germany), Octapharma Pharmazeutika Produktionsges Mbh (Austria), Octapharma S.A.S. (France), Octapharma AB (Sweden), Octapharma (IP) Limited (UK), CSL Behring Gmbh (Germany), Kedrion Spa (Italy), Baxter SA (Belgium), Baxalta Belgium Manufacturing SA (Belgium), Baxter AG (Austria). Unannounced inspections were carried out in Romania, Belgium and Italy as part of this investigation.

Romania ran out of immunoglobulin at the beginning of this year and asked for EU support. Immunoglobulin is a protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used to treat immune and neurologic disorders or to prevent infections for people who receive bone marrow transplants.

editor@romania-insider.com