The court sentenced the French laboratories Urgo to a fine of 1,125,000 euros, including 625,000 suspended. They are accused of having offered gifts to pharmacists, in return for the abandonment of commercial discounts, learned Agence France-Presse, Friday, January 27, from a judicial source.
Justice has also ordered the confiscation of more than 5 million euros, which had already been seized during the investigation, said the public prosecutor in Dijon, Olivier Caracotch.
The recognized offense
The preliminary investigation, which began in June 2021, uncovered “an irregular commercial practice employed between 2015 and 2021”, observed within the “Healthcare” activity of the URGO laboratories, located in Dijon. The investigations established “the existence of a system consisting in fine of the delivery of valuables or leisure items to certain pharmacists, in return for the abandonment of commercial discounts that may be granted to their pharmacies”said the prosecution in a press release.
In a separate press releasethe directorate of the Ministry of the Economy in charge of the repression of fraud, the DGCCRF, figure at “more than 55 million euros” gifts granted between 2015 and 2021 to community pharmacists “over the whole national territory”.
This system has “enabled laboratories to retain customers with higher commercial margins and healthcare professionals to obtain personal benefits”. It contravenes the so-called “anti-gift” law adopted in 1993.
The companies admitted the offense and appeared on Friday at a hearing on prior admission of guilt, at the end of which they accepted the sentences proposed by the Dijon prosecutor’s office.