France’s competition authority is investigating drugmakers Roche and Novartis on suspicion they were involved in anti-competitive practices in relation to eye disease treatments, the companies said yesterday.

This is the second time in as many months that the Swiss drugmakers have faced regulatory scrutiny over treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – a leading cause of blindness among the elderly.

A statement on the French authority’s website said it had conducted ‘search and confiscation’ operations on April 8 in relation to treatments for wet AMD, but it did not name the companies involved.

Spokeswomen for both Roche and Novartis confirmed the French authorities had started an investigation regarding treatments for the eye condition and said they would cooperate fully.

Roche denied that the two companies had colluded: “Roche confirms there is no agreement between Roche and Novartis that restricts competition.

Last month, Italy’s antitrust authority said Roche and Novartis had colluded to try to stop cancer drug Avastin from being used to treat AMD and fined the companies €182.5 million.

The regulator accused the two Basel-based firms of striking an alliance to prevent distribution of Roche’s Avastin in favour of the more expensive drug Lucentis marketed by both Roche and Novartis.

While Lucentis is specifically approved to treat wet AMD, it costs far more than Roche’s cancer drug Avastin which works in a similar way when split into smaller doses and is widely prescribed on a so-called ‘off-label’ basis. (Reuters)