Investigations
Drug Makers And Distributors Receive Statement Of
Objections Regarding Selling Of Impotence Drugs
On 10 February 2009, the Secretariat of the Competition
Commission (FCC) issued a decision proposal to charge the
manufacturers and distributors of male impotence drugs with price
fixing. Following an investigation opened in 2006 into prices
charged for erectile dysfunction medication (which includes Viagra,
Cialis and Levitra), the Secretariat came to the conclusion that
Bayer (Schweiz) AG, Eli Lilly (Suisse) SA and Pfizer AG made
unlawful vertical competition agreements that maintained a
recommended public selling price.
Under Article 5(4) of the Competition Act (ACart), vertical
agreements are deemed to eliminate competition if they include
retail price-fixing. Criteria according to which price
recommendations may be deemed as vertical agreement that comes
under Article 5(4) ACart have been set out by the FCC in its
Communication of 2 July 2007 on
