The Spanish Competition Authority fines a pharmaceutical company €10.25M for selling its orphan drug for the treatment of a rare disease at an excessive price (Leadiant)

The CNMC fines the pharmaceutical company Leadiant 10.25 million for selling its orphan drug for the treatment of a rare disease at an excessive price.* The company has abused its dominant position as the holder of the only medicine available in Spain for the treatment of a rare disease: cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX). There are around 200 to 250 patients diagnosed with this disease in Europe, of which around 50 are in Spain. Leadiant secured exclusive supply of the active ingredient on which the drug is based, thus preventing the emergence of alternative products. It charged the National Health System 14 times the price of another (essentially identical) medicine it had marketed in Spain to treat CTX back in 2010. Leadiant will now have to sell the drug in Spain at a non-excessive