The EU Commission is taking action against a global pharmaceutical company whose statements were allegedly directed against competition from a neighboring country in Germany. Now this is to stop.
The global pharmaceutical company Vifor may have to correct and withdraw misleading statements about the safety of a competitor’s product. The EU Commission specifically required Vifor to “send a short message to numerous healthcare professionals by email, post and in face-to-face meetings to clarify the matter,” the authority said. The background to this is that the company may have disseminated misleading information about the safety of a drug from its Danish competitor Pharmacosmos.
As a result, Vifor may have abused its dominant position on the German market, the Commission said. The authority therefore also required Vifor to publish a statement on its website and in leading medical journals – Pharmacosmos must also be able to use this statement, for example in discussions with doctors.
Both companies produce preparations that are used to treat iron deficiency intravenously. Both Ferinject (Vifor) and Monofer (Pharmacosmos) are high-dose iron preparations and are used when other medications, such as those taken orally, do not work or cannot be used.
Source: Stern
