EU Commission fines Teva $500 million for trying to stop rival’s multiple sclerosis drug

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission has fined Israeli generic drugmaker Teva more than 460 million euros ($500 million) for improperly seeking to protect the patent for its multiple sclerosis drug and for disparaging a rival company’s development of a competing medicine. The commission said in a statement Thursday that the pharmaceutical firm “misused the patent system to artificially extend patent protection” for its blockbuster MS drug Copaxone. Last year, Teva was ordered to pay $225 million to settle price fixing charges in the U.S. related to sales of a cholesterol-lowering drug.