German pharmaceutical company paid AMCU UAH 25 million fine for concentration without permission

Cheplapharm Arzneimittel GmbH (Germany) paid in full a fine of UAH 24.9 million imposed by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for concentration without permission of the Committee.

This is stated iіn the message of the committee, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"In June, the committee fined Cheplapharm Arzneimittel GmbH UAH 24.903 million for acquiring the assets of the companies F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Switzerland), Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (U.S.) and related companies, allowing to carry out business activities in the development, production, packaging, commercialization, distribution and sale of medicines (except for the territory of Ukraine) before the committee granting permission," said in a statement.

It is noted that in December 2021, the participants of the concentration applied to the committee for a concentration permit, as a result of which the Cheplapharm group would purchase trademarks, patents, marketing authorization, know-how, know-how licenses, as well as stocks of the drug Valcyte in certain countries, including Ukraine.

At the same time, given the fact that during the consideration of the application, the grounds for banning the stated concentration were found, the relevant concentration case was launched by the committee in January 2022.

"During the study of the possible consequences of concentration in the commodity markets of Ukraine, the committee became aware that the declared concentration was completed on February 1, 2022, and the territory of Ukraine was excluded from the sphere of transaction. Thus (by changing the transaction structure), the applicants tried to take the necessary steps to maintain the status quo in Ukraine and ensure that so that the concentration could not have any impact on the state of competition in Ukraine... As a result, the implementation of the concentration, although it did not lead to a change in the competitive environment in Ukraine, however, the withdrawal of the territory of Ukraine from the sphere of transaction does not avoid liability and consequences in the form of penalties," the statement said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in September, the Verkhovna Rada appointed the former head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko as the chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.