European Commission Tightens Law Enforcement on Pharmaceutical Cartels

In July 2025, the European Competition Commission imposed a EUR 489,000 fine on Alchem International Pvt. Ltd. and its Hong Kong subsidiary for their involvement in a pharmaceutical cartel involving the active ingredient used in the manufacture of an abdominal antispasmodic medicine. This case is unique in that the antitrust violation relates to the active ingredient of a medicinal product, as opposed to a medicinal product itself.

Alchem Cartel Case

The European Commission found that Alchem committed continuous antitrust violations spanning over 12 years, between 2005 and 2018, involving the active ingredient SNBB (N-Butylbromide Scopolamine/Hyoscine) of Buscopan and its generic versions, by coordinating and agreeing with cartel members (pharmaceutical manufacturers in various EU member states) to fix the minimum sales price, allocate quotas, and exchange commercially sensitive information. The pharmaceutical cartel committed violations in various markets throughout Europe and sometimes vis-à-vis public procurement bodies, in a manner that created an inherent risk of adversely impacting the regular supply of the medicine to consumers and health systems.

At the end of 2023, the European Commission reached a settlement and imposed fines totaling EUR 13.4 million against six pharmaceutical companies – Alkaloids of Australia, Alkaloids Corporation, Boehringer, Linnea, and Transo-Pharm – for their participation in the cartel. Another company, C2 Pharma, which was part of the cartel, was not fined because it used the commission’s whistleblower mechanism to expose the cartel and gain protection under the commission’s leniency program.

Unlike the other cartel members, Alchem refused to reach a settlement with the commission. As a result, the commission continued its investigation against Alchem and concluded that it was an active partner in the cartel and thus fined it EUR 489,000.

The fine imposed on Alchem is relatively low compared to those imposed on the other cartel members, due to not only the relatively minor scope of its activities compared to the other cartel members, but also its failure to cooperate. However, Alchem also incurred ongoing administrative and legal expenses during the commission’s proceedings against it.

European Commission Broadens the Scope of Antitrust Enforcement

The commission emphasized that it is significantly expanding the scope of its close monitoring and enforcement to also include markets at the top of the supply chain, such as the market for the active ingredient SNBB. In other words, the commission is expanding its focus beyond the final medicinal products sold to end-consumers (where most anti-competitive violations usually occur) to also include important ingredients of final products.

The commission made it abundantly clear that upstream anti-competitive activities could jeopardize public access to medicines.

Significance of the Decision and Recommended Actions

While the fine the European Commission imposed on Alchem is relatively low (compared to the cumulative fines exceeding EUR 13 million imposed on other companies that participated in the cartel), it sends a clear message: even relatively small players, including suppliers of active ingredients of medicinal products, are considered significant participants in global competition and are also prohibited from committing antitrust violations. Such violations could have far-reaching consequences that may also result in civil lawsuits demanding enormous compensation, in addition to fines, since the commission’s decision constitutes binding evidence in courts of EU member states.

This case sends a clear warning to all companies in the pharmaceutical supply chain –suppliers of active ingredients, generic drug manufacturers, importers, and distributors – that participants in antitrust violations are exposing themselves to significant administrative and civil legal liabilities.

This warning is also quite relevant to Israeli manufacturers selling pharmaceuticals to the European market, even at insignificant volumes. Israel manufacturers must be extremely careful not to become involved in any antitrust violations that harm competition and consumers. Accordingly, they should take the time to fully understand the core statutory prohibitions applying to them and their commercial activities in the global competitive arena.

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Professor Amichai Cohen is a Special counsel on International Law in the firm.

Dr. Ran Karmi is an associate in the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Department.