ROME: Italy said on Wednesday it was seeking billion-euro payouts from multinational drug companies following a ruling by the country's anti-trust authority that their unfair policies had been detrimental to Italy's national health service.
The health ministry said in a statement it was requesting damages totalling 1.2 billion euros from Novartis and Roche for the damages incurred in 2012-2014, and was requesting 14 million euros from Pfizer.
It cited several recent anti-trust rulings that the companies' repeated anti-competition policies had caused the national health service "considerable damage".
In March, Italy's antitrust authority said Roche and Novartis colluded to try to stop cancer drug Avastin from being used to treat a serious eye disease and fined the companies 182.5 million euros ($254.2 million).
Italy's regulator accused the two Basel-based firms of striking an alliance to prevent distribution of Roche's Avastin as a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in favour of the more expensive drug Lucentis made by Novartis.
Roche and Novartis have both denied malpractice and have said they will appeal against the regulator's ruling.
Italy's state council, the highest administrative court, in February ruled that Pfizer had abused its dominant position relating to the Glaucoma drug Xalatan "with a clear and persistent intention to suppress competition.
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