Reuters Events | Pharma

Thought leadership and innovation for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Forceful efforts to thwart generic drug competition in France have landed multinational pharma firm Sanofi in deep water with the country’s Competition Authority, which has just issued a €40.6m ($52.7m) fine for a smear campaign targeted at the company’s rivals several years ago.

By Louise Kelly on May 15, 2013

Back in 2010, Teva Sante, a French unit of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, filed a complaint with the French regulator concerning Sanofi's communication practices in the field. Teva, the world’s biggest maker of generic medicines, alleged that Sanofi reps had aimed to discourage the use of generic versions of their bestseller drug, the bloodthinner Plavix, when visiting health professionals.  At the time, Sanofi were worried that a generic version of Plavix would prove popular with physicians and pharmacies in France and so, according to the Competition Authority, the company actively sought to cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of generic forms of the drug.

The decision for the severe penalty on Tuesday (14^thMay) was accompanied by comments from physicians and pharmacists who were apparently coerced to continue to prescribe Plavix between 2009 and 2010.  It was also revealed that Sanofi’s sales force even went so far as threatening these health professonals with possible liability if their patients suffered complications through use of non-branded copies of the drug.

Poor performance

Although this improper behaviour occurred several years ago, the heavy fine is not only a financial loss for Sanofi in the most obvious way, but it is an embarrassment to the large pharmaceutical at a time when credibility and marketability in the firm is much needed.  Since 2010, Plavix has delivered more than €2 billion annually, but the company has been hit hard by austerity measures and patent expirations, not only across the European landscape, but also more recently in the US, with sales losses among the hundreds of millions.

Earlier this month, Sanofi reported that overall sales were down 3 per cent to €8.1bn in comparison with the same period last year.  Sales in the US and Europe fell by about 10 per cent in each region respectively, with generic competition for leading products which have lost their exclusivity being a major factor.  Of course, Sanofi were wise enough to produce their own generic version of Plavix, for one, prior to tumbling from the patent precipice. Yet, in this same investigation by the French Competition Authority, Sanofi were found to have used similar nefarious methods when faced with practitioners who insisted on going down the generic route. The Paris-based company lobbied such doctors and pharmacists to choose Sanofi's own generic version, called Clopidogrel Winthrop at the time, rather than competing generics.

Unfair contest

It’s not the first time Sanofi’s tactics have attracted scrutiny from authorities. In 2011, in attempt to fend of competition of bloodthinner Lovenox, the company paid off two medical groups and a researcher to delay approval of alternatives for their blockbuster product.  More recently, the French pharmaceutical agreed to pay $109m to US authorities over allegations that reps for the firm distributed improper free samples of arthritis drug Hyalgan and treated doctors to ‘fine dining’ in order to promote sales of the product.

But Sanofi may contest this latest decision by the Competition Authority as a spokesperson for the company maintains Sanofi never challenged nor specifically targeted the Teva Sante generic or other Plavix generic versions. “Sanofi disagrees with the Competition Authority’s decision, and is currently reviewing all the points to prepare an appeal before the Paris appeals court,” the company said. “The safety of patients is Sanofi’s first priorit.