The European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections to Alchem in respect of a historic first cartel case in the pharmaceutical sector
On 13 June 2024, the European Commission publicly announced that it had issued a Statement of Objections (an "SO") to Alchem in respect of an alleged pharmaceutical cartel, following a settlement decision (the "Decision") in relation to the same cartel, issued in October 2023. The Decision resulted in 5 companies being fined a total of €13.4 million for their involvement in a price fixing cartel in respect of the pharmaceutical ingredient, N-Butylbromide Scopolamine/Hyoscine ("SNBB"), an important input to abdominal antispasmodic medicine.
With Alchem being the only alleged cartel participant not to avail of the settlement process, the Commission was required to adopt the hybrid settlement procedure, a challenging process because of the way in which it intersects with the presumption of innocence. Settlement decisions lead to expedited cases, that are typically concluded in advance of the adoption of a decision (or issuance of an SO) for the non-settling parties. This process has been challenged before, with Scania alleging that it meant the Commission had prejudged its investigation of it following the adoption of a settlement decision against is co-cartelists.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (the "CJEU") confirmed the Commission's approach in its judgment of 1 February 2024, nevertheless noting that the Commission was required to take additional precautions to ensure that it avoids prejudging investigations into non-settling parties when the hybrid procedure was used.
We will watch how the Alchem case develops, with interest, particularly any appeals.
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