Swiss Allege Price Fixing on Viagra and Cialis
Swiss authorities have accused Pfizer and Eli Lilly of conspiring to fix prices for Viagra and Cialis. The news has created the best Bloomberg headline ever: “Pfizer, Lilly, Bayer Operated Erection-Drug Cartel, Swiss Say.”
A couple of days ago BNET noted that Pfizer and Lilly appear to have frozen Bayer’s Levitra out of the market. The two ED brands have come to dominate global sales of penis pills. This was my explanation:
The gains for Pfizer and Lilly come despite the downturn reducing the number of employees with health coverage. Both companies have made efforts to bolster their franchises: Lilly received approval to market a “once-a-day” version of Cialis; and Pfizer has been aggressive in calls to increase enforcement against illegal, counterfeit and fake supplies of the blue pills (among other drugs).
But the Swiss Competition Commission has come up with a much more interesting theory: They colluded on prices:
“The recommended public selling price covered the drugmakers, pharmacies and physicians,” Olivier Schaller, a spokesman for the commission, said in a telephone interview. “It was widely followed.”
The official terminology in the accusation is priceless: “inadmissible vertical competition agreements.” And the spokesperson for Lilly in Switzerland? Petra Streit. Fantastic.
- Previous BNET coverage of Viagra et al:
- Pfizer, Lilly Have Won the ED War; Bayer Wilts
- Ads for “Sex Nasal Spray” Banned in the U.K.
- List of 56 Drugs That Should Not Be Mixed With Viagra Contains Some Surprises
- Viagra Ban for Athletes (But Not for Soldiers)?
- Pfizer Courting More Controversy with Viagra ‘Advergaming’
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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