ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s competition authority said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into 19 pharmaceutical companies to determine whether they had violated competition law.
In a statement, the authority said it had decided on Nov. 9 to launch the probe into companies including AstraZeneca, Bayer, Glaxosmithkline, Johnson & Johnson, Bausch & Lomb, Sanofi and Pfizer. It provided no further details.
Asked about the matter, AstraZeneca said it does not comment on ongoing investigations as a matter of policy.
Glaxosmithkline, Sanofi and Germany’s Merck KGaA all said they were fully cooperating with competition authorities in Turkey, but did not elaborate further.
In a statement, BASF said it was assessing the matter and was committed to high standards of legal compliance and business ethics.
AbbVie, Abdi Ibrahim, Bausch & Lomb, Bayer, Ilko, Johnson & Johnson, Liba, Menarini, Michael Page International, Panasonic, Pfizer, SIFI, and World Medicine could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ludwig Burger, and Patricia Weiss; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan)
