The European Commission announced this Wednesday that Sanofi has agreed to stop challenging the flu vaccine intended for vulnerable patients from its competitor Seqirus and to inform healthcare professionals that the products of both companies — "Efluelda" and "Fluad" — are "equivalent". This step comes after Brussels opened a formal investigation into the laboratory for alleged misleading and anti-competitive practices.
The Community Executive has set August 21 as the deadline for interested parties in the procedure to submit their observations on the commitments made by Sanofi. If the Commission finally validates these measures, they will remain in force until March 2030 and their compliance will be monitored by an independent supervisor appointed by the Community services themselves.
On June 26, Brussels indicated in its preliminary findings that the France-based pharmaceutical company may have engaged in an abuse of dominant position in the markets for enhanced flu vaccines in Germany and France.
Furthermore, the Community Executive considers that in 2024 the company would have promoted a smear campaign aimed at persuading doctors and other professionals that the scientific basis supporting the rival serum, Fluad, was "less solid" than that of its own vaccine, Efluelda. This version, as the Commission emphasizes, clashes with the opinions of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the national technical immunization groups of Germany and France.
Among the problematic conduct identified by the Community services, and which Sanofi is trying to correct to avoid a penalty, is the "misleading and/or inaccurate" dissemination of vaccination recommendations issued by the competent national authorities.
Within this package of commitments, the French pharmaceutical company offers to publish for two years on its websites in France and Germany a statement indicating that regulators have evaluated both vaccines and have determined that both have a solid evidentiary basis, making their suitability equivalent.
Likewise, it undertakes to include for four years in all its promotional and marketing material in Germany the current recommendation of the German authorities on the strength of the evidence for the two brands, while "refraining from criticizing, questioning, or contradicting national recommendations" and waiving the launch of new attacks against Seqirus' product.