EU exec raids pharma sector firms in antitrust probe

BRUSSELS Dec 3 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators have carried out raids on some firms in the pharmaceutical sector on suspicions of collusion to delay the entry of generic drugs into the market, the European Commission said on Friday.

The Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog of the 27-nation European Union, said the raids took place Nov. 30 in several EU countries, but it did not identify the companies.

"The Commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have acted individually or jointly, notably to delay generic entry for a particular medicine," it said in a statement, emphasising that the inspections were a preliminary step in suspected anticompetitive practices.

(Reporting by Bate Felix, editing by Rex Merrifield)

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