According to Neelie Kroes, the European competition commissioner, the drug makers have resorted to two main tactics to delay the availability of the low-cost medicines. They have either amassed patents to protect active ingredients in the medicines or sued the makers of generic drugs for ostensible patent violations, which prevented the sale of less expensive generics.
Previously Ms Kroes was asked to investigate the drug companies including drug majors like Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline, amidst allegations that pharma companies are impeding the release of generics and low-cost drugs into the market.
Ms Kroes has reportedly said that the generic companies have received approximately $200 million from pharma companies in exchange for holding their products off the market. She has also said that the patients and healthcare systems in Europe could have saved $3.8 billion between 2000 and 2007 had the generics been released into the market.
However, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, has refuted the charges and said that they have neither flouted any competition laws nor resorted to any back-handed techniques to block the low-cost drugs.
But drug makers are likely to face antitrust cases if it were found that they violated the antitrust laws, the news source said.