Overview
- The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Sanofi's promotion of its enhanced over-60s vaccine Efluelda to assess possible breaches of EU competition rules.
- The probe focuses on whether Sanofi ran a misleading communication campaign that portrayed rival product Fluad as inferior and contradicted national vaccination guidance.
- European officials say the outreach at issue was chiefly directed at healthcare professionals in Germany and France, where Sanofi holds a strong market position.
- Sanofi denies any breach of the rules, calling the inquiry a procedural step and saying it is confident it complied with all applicable laws and regulations.
- If the Commission finds anticompetitive conduct it can impose fines for abuse of dominance or accept binding commitments from Sanofi to change its practices, and the case could affect how vaccines are recommended and chosen by doctors.