Teva Faces New Probe in Turkey Over Conduct Flagged by EU
- Turkey’s Rekabet Kurulu concluded a preliminary inquiry and opened a full investigation into Teva by decision dated 6 August 2026, numbered 26-28/804-M, published on the authority’s website on 21 August. The case runs under Article 6 of Law No. 4054, Turkey’s abuse of dominance provision.
- Two conducts are under examination. First, strategic use of divisional patent procedures: after the basic molecule patent expired, filing divisional applications covering manufacturing method and dosage regimen, together with withdrawal practices connected to those patents, and whether that restricted equivalent-medicine competition.
- Second, creating a misleading impression before health authorities regarding the efficacy and safety of rival products. The investigation covers the economic entity comprising Teva İlaçları Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe B.V. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The authority notes that opening an investigation does not imply a violation has occurred.
- On 31 October 2024 the European Commission fined Teva €462.6 million for abuse of dominance over Copaxone, on two grounds: misuse of European Patent Office divisional procedures covering manufacturing process and dosage, filed as the basic patent expired and withdrawn when challenged, and a disparagement campaign aimed at healthcare bodies and professionals.
CI read
This is not a new theory of harm. It is the European Commission’s Copaxone decision being run a second time in Ankara, and the correspondence is close enough that it reads as deliberate rather than coincidental.
- The two conducts match element for element. Divisional filings on manufacturing method and dosage after basic patent expiry, with withdrawals when challenged, then misleading communications to health authorities about rival efficacy and safety. Those are the two arms the Commission treated as a single continuous infringement in 2024.
- Two of the three named entities are the ones Brussels already fined. The Commission penalised Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe B.V. Ankara names both of those 2, plus the Turkish subsidiary. A finding in one jurisdiction travels to the next with the corporate perimeter attached.
- The template is portable, and that is the exposure worth pricing. The Commission published its decision in April 2025, handing every authority with an abuse of dominance provision a worked case. Any originator combining post-expiry divisional filings with prescriber communications on generic equivalence should assume the theory is now available locally.
Read the original source (MLex, via Rekabet Kurumu statement) →
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