EU Court upholds 13.96 million euro penalty on Unichem Labs

The EU General Court thrashed the company's appeal against the European Commission’s decision to impose a penalty on Unichem in the perindopril patent case. The company is reviewing the judgement and might appeal before the European Court of Justice.

Unichem Laboratories Limited and Niche Generics Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unichem, had entered into settlements with Servier following a dispute on the validity of the patent for Servier's blockbuster blood pressure drug, perindopril. Observing this practice, in July 2014, the European Commission penalised Servier and five other generic company including Unichem and Niche for restricting competition and delaying the entry of cheaper generic medicines in the EU region.

Perindopril is a medicine indicated for the treatment of hypertension and heart failure and Servier had obtained a patent for the drug in 2004.

Unichem and Niche appealed against the European Commission decision before the General Court of the European Union in September 2014. On Tuesday, December 12, 2018, the General Court rejected the appeal and confirmed the fine of 13.96 million euro.

Reacting to this development, the stock experienced volatility during the first half of trade on Thursday. At 13:06 hours, Unichem Labs was quoting Rs. 193.10 per share, up marginally by 0.23 per cent on BSE. The stock had an intraday high of Rs. 194.45 and a low of Rs. 187.55 per share.