Britain’s competition watchdog fined U.S. firm Viatris (NASDAQ: VTRS) 1.5 million pounds ($1.88 million) on Friday for violating an order during its probe into pharma company Theramex’s acquisition of European rights to two Viatris product ranges.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Viatris breached regulations by changing key members of its UK management team without the regulator’s consent and then failed to notify it of the breach.
Viatris did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Theramex, one of the largest suppliers of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the UK, agreed to purchase the European rights to women’s healthcare product ranges Duphaston and Femoston from Viatris last year.
In April, the CMA said its Phase 1 investigation raised concerns that the proposed deal could reduce competition in the already concentrated HRT market in the UK but later decided not to refer the deal to a Phase 2 investigation.
($1 = 0.7978 pounds)
