EU Antitrust: Raids on Pharma Companies and E.ON Divestments
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.26.08
EU Commission raids pharma companies days before sector inquiry interim report
The European Commission has confirmed that it conducted antitrust dawn raids at the offices of several pharmaceutical companies in Europe on November 24. The raids come four days before publication of the interim report in the Commission’s pharmaceuticals sector inquiry investigating competition issues in the industry. Press reports have identified both generic and originator companies as targets of the raids.
The Commission has said that the latest raids are not part of the sector inquiry and are not linked to the earlier raids that launched the inquiry on January 15. However, knowledge acquired during the inquiry has, it said, allowed it to “draw conclusions on where Commission action based on competition law could be appropriate and effective”.
The Commission’s press release confirming the raids is available by clicking here: Antitrust: Commission confirms unannounced inspections at pharmaceutical companies
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EU Commission accepts binding divestment commitments from E.ON in the wake of its energy sector inquiry
On November 26 the Commission formally accepted binding commitments from the German energy giant E.ON to divest (i) its transmission system business consisting of an Extra-High-Voltage (380/220 kV) line network and system operations (currently run by E.ON Netz) and (ii) 5000MW of generation capacity. E.ON’s offer to divest comes in the wake of the Commission’s 2006 energy sector inquiry, which identified competition concerns arising from E.ON’s ownership of both the transmission network and generating capacity in Germany, and a subsequent investigation of E.ON for alleged abuse of market dominance . The allegations included (i) withholding output to drive up electricity prices and (ii) granting preferential network access to its own generation business while passing the resulting costs on to consumers.
The Commission’s press release is available by clicking here: Antitrust: Commission opens German electricity market to competition
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
