Two years after raiding the offices of Novartis, Switzerland’s Competition Commission (COMCO) has dropped its investigation into the company’s use of patent infringement lawsuits to quell competition for its immunosuppressant Cosentyx.
COMCO’s probe was aimed at determining whether Novartis was using a “blocking patent” to unlawfully prevent other companies from developing, producing or supplying drugs that would compete with Cosentyx.
“The investigation revealed that Novartis’ actions finally were common practice in the field of patent law and, further, did not confirm the above indications of an unlawful restraint of competition. Therefore, COMCO discontinued the investigation,” the antitrust regulator revealed in a release.
COMCO added that, during its investigation, it consulted with the European Commission (EC), which “came to the same conclusion to discontinue proceedings.”
“Novartis is pleased about the official closure of the investigation by the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO), who concluded that all allegations concerning the assertion of patent rights in the field of dermatology treatments were unfounded. Novartis acted in full compliance with Swiss competition law and enforced its patent rights in a lawful manner,” the company said in an emailed statement.
The probe began in September 2022, with Novartis issuing a release acknowledging that it had been targeted by COMCO and the EC.
Six weeks later, the company revealed in a financial report that the investigation centered on Novartis’ acquisition of patents from Roche subsidiary Genentech in 2020. When Novartis used those patents to file (PDF) to take action against Eli Lilly and others, it drew the attention of COMCO and the EC, which were concerned that the company was in violation of the Swiss Cartel Act. The law prevents companies from using patents to enhance their dominant position in the market.
In October 2022, Novartis dropped its lawsuit against Lilly as the companies came to a financial settlement.
Cosentyx accounted for sales of $5 billion in 2023, making it Novartis’ second most lucrative product behind heart failure treatment Entresto. Lilly’s drug that competes with Cosentyx is Taltz, which pulled in $2.8 billion last year. As IL-17A inhibitors, Taltz and Cosentyx are from the same drug class. Cosentyx’s patent on psoriasis use is expected to expire in 2032 in the U.S. and in 2031 in EU, according to Novartis’ annual report.
In another anticompetition case from 2020, Novartis and Roche were each fined 445 million euros ($526 million) by French authorities for how the companies marketed their eye med Lucentis against off-label use of Roche’s cheaper Avastin. It followed another fine from Italian authorities on the same matter.