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In an order by the Delhi High Court bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru, plea filed by US Drug-maker Abbott was dismissed. The petition wanted to stall a probe by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) into allegations of price cartelization over a key diabetes drug.
About a year ago, a whistleblower made allegations, via an anonymous letter to the Competition Commission of India, on Abott that he along with Novartis, Emcure and USV was controlling the price of the drug Vildagliptin and that there was an understanding to maintain the price of this drug throughout the country. Based on this, the CCI director general sent notices to the drug makers asking them for trade details of this drug. This move of CCI was challenged by Abott advancing that the email was forged and data provided by the drug pricing regulator were inaccurate.
The appeal was dismissed owing to various facts and observations of the case. Justice Bakhru accepted CCI’s contention that the DG could employ appropriate tools to test the veracity of the email and the claim. On the argument of Abbott’s Counsel that the CCI was required to take an informed view of both the veracity of email as well as that of data provided by the NPPA to form a prima facie opinion in terms of section 26 of the Act, the Court said – “This court is not persuaded to accept any of the contentions advanced by the learned counsel on behalf of the petitioner. The order passed by the CCI under section 26(1) is, essentially, an administrative order and akin to a direction from one wing of the department to another”.
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