The Competition Council has fined pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim RCV Gmbh & Co KG (Austria) with 128.470 million RON (25.81 million euros) for abuse of a dominant position on the Romanian market of medicines intended for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a press release.The competition authority found that, over 2017-2021, Boehringer Ingelheim RCV Gmbh & Co KG limited market access to the generic medicine Spiriva (cheaper) and directed patients to Spiolto Respimat, an innovative, more complex and more expensive medicine.According to the Therapeutic Guide in force at that time and the national protocol, not all patients affected by COPD have a more complex medicine as their first treatment option (dual therapy), some of them having the medicine Spiriva and implicitly its generic versions (monotherapy) as their initial indication.Boehringer Ingelheim RCV Gmbh & Co KG has carried out an intensive communication and promotion strategy to influence doctors' decisions so that they will prescribe the drug Spiolto Respimat more widely.In this way, the company intended to make it more difficult to sell competing generic drugs similar to Spiriva and to direct the revenues generated by this product to the new drug Spiolto Respimat.Both drugs are reimbursed 50% by the Health Insurance House, the difference being paid by patients.The clues that were the basis for triggering the investigation also included information received on the Competition Whistleblower Platform, a tool through which violations of the Competition Law can be brought to the attention of the authority, anonymously. The platform can be accessed at https://report.whistleb.com/ro/consiliulconcurentei.
Céline Gauer, the director general of the Recovery and Resilience Task Force (or RECOVER) at the European Commission, arrived in Romania on Tuesday, July 15, to meet with officials regarding the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, or PNRR. As the coordinator of the PNRR, which offers funding in the form of advantageous […]
Aluminium producer ALRO, a subsidiary of Vimetco PLC from Cyprus, celebrated 28 years on the Romanian stock exchange (BVB) and 60 years of uninterrupted industrial activity. Its market capitalization has increased nearly 21 times since its listing and now exceeds RON 1 billion. The company’s history began with the first batch of Romanian aluminium, on June […]
Something is quietly shifting in Romania. In places where paperwork, patchy Wi-Fi, and long queues once ruled, change is starting to show. Towns are more connected, cities are getting smarter, and essential services are beginning to live online, not in line. A tidal wave of digitisation is common to other areas of the globe, that’s […]
Several segments in Romania's A7 and A8 highway projects have lost funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) due to project delays, the minister of investments and European projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, announced on Tuesday, July 15, as reported by Biziday.ro. He did not specify which segments of these highways were affected. The statement […]
Real estate developer Redport and businessman Dan Șucu officially inaugurated the showroom for their latest residential project, Vitality Est, and announced the start of construction work on the site near Pantelimon Park and Lake in eastern Bucharest. The project, estimated at EUR 50 million, will include 500 apartments and 400 square meters of commercial space. […]
According to an analysis from real estate consultant Colliers based on National Bank of Romania data, Romanians spent more than EUR 3 billion on international travel in the first four months of 2025, 15% more than in the same period of 2024. If the current pace continues, Romanians’ spending on foreign holidays and business travel […]
