Urgo laboratories were sentenced to a fine of 1,125,000 euros, including 625,000 suspended, for having offered gifts to pharmacists, in return for the abandonment of commercial discounts, we learned on Friday from a judicial source.
Justice has also ordered the confiscation of more than five million euros, which had already been seized during the investigation, said the public prosecutor in Dijon, Olivier Caracotch.
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At the end of a preliminary investigation started in June 2021, "
an irregular commercial practice used between 2015 and 2021
" was observed within the Healthcare activity of URGO Laboratories, based in Dijon.
The investigations established "
the existence of a system consisting ultimately 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
", specifies the prosecution. in a press release.
This system has “
enabled laboratories to build customer loyalty with higher commercial margins and health professionals to obtain personal benefits
”.
It contravenes the so-called “
anti-gift
” law adopted in 1993.
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The companies Laboratoires Urgo (Healthcare branch, for the years 2015 and 2016) and Laboratoires Urgo Healthcare (from 2017 to 2021) admitted the existence of this system and "
took the necessary measures to put an end to it definitively during the investigation
, ”says the prosecution.
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.
