Purchase by Alvogen Iceland ehf. of certain rights regarding Teva‘s marketed generic pharmaceuticals in Iceland

The Competition Authority has reviewed the acquisition by Alvogen Iceland ehf. of certain generic pharmaceuticals marketed in Iceland by Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe B.V. This case has its origins in a decision of the European Commission 10 March 2016 concerning the merger of the pharmaceutical undertakings Teva and Allergan Generics (Actavis), case No. M.7746. The Commission accepted the merger with remedies in its decision. The remedies involved among other that the merging party would divest Teva's generics marketed in Iceland. The remedy was meant to ensure competition in the Icelandic generics market. 

Alvogen bought the divested assets and the Icelandic Competition Authority (ICA) called for a merger notification because of that transaction, cf. Article 17(b)(3) of the Icelandic Competition Act. The ICA concluded that no competition concerns were present as regards horizontal effects. However, the ICA concluded that the merger might affect competition adversely on the wholesale level generics in Iceland (non-horizontal effects). Lyfis, a competitor of Alvogen, has been the distributor of Teva generics in Iceland. Following the merger Lyfis would lose its distribution contract with Teva. The ICA and Alvogen reached a settlement during the procedure that involves a remedy that Lyfis continues to distribute Teva's generics for some time. This should allow Lyfis a longer grace period to react to the loss of the Teva contract.