National Development and Reform Commission: Medtronic monopolizes the price of medical devices and fined 185 million yuan

Source: website of the national development and Reform Commission on December 7, 2016, the national development and Reform Commission imposed an administrative penalty on Medtronic (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Medtronic") and its trading counterpart for entering into and implementing a price monopoly agreement on medical devices in the field of cardiovascular, restorative therapy and diabetes business, with a fine of 1.185 Billion yuan Medtronic sells medical device products through resale in China's domestic market, and its trading partners include platform providers and primary distributors It is found out that at least since 2014 Since, Medtronic has reached a monopoly agreement with its trading counterpart by means of distribution agreement, email notice, oral negotiation, etc., which limits the resale price, bidding price of relevant medical device products and the minimum selling price to the hospital, and has implemented the price by formulating the product price list of each distribution link, internal assessment, canceling the low-priced winning products of dealers, etc Monopoly agreement Medtronic has also taken measures to restrict the sales target and sales area vertically and to restrict the distribution of competitive brand products, further strengthening the implementation effect of the vertical price monopoly agreement At present, the market competition of high-value consumables and implantable medical equipment in China is not sufficient as a whole, and manufacturers mainly adopt resale sales mode Fair competition among distributors is an important aspect to promote product competition and form a reasonable market price Medtronic is in the leading position in the field of cardiovascular, restorative therapy and diabetes related medical devices It strictly limits the resale price, eliminates and restricts the competition among dealers, restricts the competition among medical device brands, maintains the high price of related medical device products, hinders the normal function of market price mechanism, increases the burden of patients and damages It harms the interests of consumers Medtronic has reached and implemented a monopoly agreement with its trading counterpart to fix the price of the products involved in the resale to the third party and limit the minimum price of the products involved in the resale to the third party, which violates the provisions of Article 14 (1) and (2) of the anti monopoly law, and does not meet the exemption conditions and exemption conditions of Article 15 of the anti monopoly law The national development and Reform Commission has ordered medun according to law Li immediately stopped the price monopoly and fined 4% of the sales volume of the products involved in the case in 2015, totaling 185.2 million yuan During the investigation, Medtronic took the initiative to formulate rectification measures to completely remove resale price restrictions, allow platform providers to sell directly to terminals, no longer restrict dealers to sell to cross regional buyers, remove exclusive sales restrictions in the distribution of products with market power, revise the distribution agreement, bidding management system, dealer management policies, and strengthen employee anti monopolization Cut off training and improve the company's anti-monopoly compliance system The national development and Reform Commission will continue to track and supervise the implementation of rectification measures The national development and Reform Commission will continue to strengthen the anti-monopoly supervision of the medical device industry, stop various measures to restrict competition in production, sales and other links, seriously investigate and deal with illegal acts such as monopoly agreements, abuse of market dominant position, practically maintain the order of fair competition, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.