Italian prosecutors open probe against Roche, Novartis

[riky]

Italian prosecutors open probe against Roche, Novartis

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/italian-prosecutors-open-probe-against-roche-novartis-181355379--sector.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/WZa55SZ4TjbBAWA61JmbEA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-03-14T181355Z_1_CBREA2D1ENB00_RTROPTP_2_ROCHE-RESULTS.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside their headquarters in Basel" align="left" title="The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside their headquarters in Basel" border="0" /></a>Prosecutors in Rome have opened an investigation into four executives at Swiss drugmakers Roche and Novartis on suspicion of fraud and manipulation of the pharmaceutical market, judicial sources said on Friday. Earlier this month, Italy's antitrust authority said Roche and Novartis colluded to try to stop cancer drug Avastin from being used to treat a serious eye disease and fined the companies 182.5 million euros ($254.2 million). Italy's regulator accused the two Basel-based firms of striking an alliance to prevent distribution of Roche's Avastin as a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in favor of the more expensive drug Lucentis made by Novartis. A Novartis spokesman had no immediate comment on Friday.</p><br clear="all"/>

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