Italy Fines Novartis, Roche $251 Million Over Eye Drug
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Italy’s antitrust regulator fined Novartis AG and Roche Holding AG 182.5 million euros ($251 million) for allegedly colluding to prevent the use of Roche’s Avastin cancer drug as a treatment for an eye disease.
Roche and Novartis blocked distribution of Avastin in favor of a more expensive drug, Lucentis, that the two companies market jointly for an eye malady known as wet age-related macular degeneration, the regulator said in a website statement today. Novartis must pay 92 million euros and Roche 90.5 million euros, the agency said.