The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided to close its investigation into the alleged anti-competitive agreements and concerted practices in relation to generic pharmaceutical products.
The watchdog announced its decision is based on administrative priority grounds. The authority further stated that it has not reached a view on whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections to the parties under investigation.
“This decision does not amount to a statement or finding as to whether the party to the investigation has infringed competition law, nor should any inference be made to that effect,” the authority announced in the closure statement.
The CMA launched the investigation on October 10, 2017, and expanded the scope in July this year, amid the backdrop of rising generics prices that affected community pharmacies hard.
