BERLIN/ZURICH The Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) is looking into whether Novartis used a patent in an illegal way to cut down on competition. The Swiss drugmaker confirmed this on Thursday.
On September 13, COMCO said in a statement that it raided the company early in the morning. The statement did not name Novartis, but Novartis later said in its own statement that it was the group being looked into.
“Using one of its patents to start a lawsuit, the company is said to have tried to protect its drug for treating skin diseases from competing products,” COMCO said in a statement.
Novartis said that COMCO had started an investigation with the European Commission into the use of a patent in the wider field of treatments for dermatology.
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It said, “As part of this investigation, COMCO sent people to the company’s headquarters in Basel.”
“The start of an investigation doesn’t mean that someone did something wrong or that there will be any financial consequences. “Novartis is working with the authorities and is sure it will be able to prove that its position is right,” it added.
