European Union antitrust regulators fined drugmakers Johnson & Johnson and Novartis a total of 16 million euros ($21.95 million) on Tuesday for blocking the sale of a generic painkiller in the Dutch market. The European Commission said in a statement that the deal between the two companies meant patients did not have access to the cheaper generic version of fentanyl for 17 months starting from July 2005.Johnson & Johnson and its Dutch unit, Janssen-Cilag, were fined 10.8 million euros while Novartis and its Dutch subsidiary, Sandoz, were fined 5.5 million euros."Today's decision should make pharmaceutical companies think twice before engaging into such anti-competitive practices, which harm both patients and taxpayers," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.This is the second crackdown by the Commission against so-called pay-for-delay deals where brand-name drugmakers pay generic companies not to market rival versions of their medicine which usually cost a fraction of the original drug.
Johnson & Johnson is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a broad range of products in the health care field. Shares of JNJ remained unchanged at $94.44. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $69.18 and as high as $95.99. On average, 7318800 shares of JNJ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1805.
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