Zakłady Farmaceutyczne Polpharma has received
conditional clearance to take over Polfa Warszawa from the
President of Poland's Competition Authority, UOKiK.
Polpharma is a subsidiary of Genefar. Polfa Warszawa is a
state-owned company belonging to Polski Holding Farmaceutyczny.
Both produce and sell pharmaceuticals.
UOKiK concluded that the takeover would affect competition in three
markets:
- It would give Polpharma a dominant share (significantly above the 40% threshold) of the markets for non-prescription anti-thrombotic drugs (for people with heart problems) and for prescription fluorochinolones (general use antibiotics)
- It would give Polpharma a monopoly over the market for prescription sulfonamids (for treating bacterial eye infections)
For this reason, conditions were attached to merger clearance requiring Polpharma to divest of all rights to the following drugs:
- Polocard or Acard (antithrombotic drugs)
- Cipronex or Proxacin (fluorochinolones)
- Sulfacetamidum natrium or Sulfacetamidum WZF 10% HEC.
UOKiK must be satisfied that the disposal is to someone outside
the Polpharma group, and that Polpharma provides the new owner with
all technical and commercial documentation about the production and
sale of the drugs.
UOKiK rarely issues conditional clearance decisions. Since 2004, it
has issued 14 conditional decisions and the Polpharma/Polfa
clearance is the first of 2012.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 29/03/2012.