EU Fines Pharma Firms €13.4 Million in 14-Year Ingredient Cartel

The European Union’s antitrust enforcers hit five pharmaceutical firms with fines totaling €13.4 million ($14.1 million) for colluding to fix prices for a key drug ingredient.

Alkaloids of Australia, Alkaloids Corp., Boehringer, Linnea and Transo-Pharm, faced the the EU penalties after they collaborated on an agreement to fix the minimum sales price and to allocate quotes of a pharmaceutical ingredient used in abdominal pain medications.

The abusive conduct spanned 14 years between November 2005 and September 2019, the European Commission said in a statement on the settlement announced on Thursday.

Boehringer faced the heaviest penalty, with a fine of ...