The court in Amsterdam declared the case of the Farma Foundation for accountability (FTV) against pharmaceutical ABVIE inadmissible on Wednesday. So there will be no substantive opinion in the case, because the foundation “has insufficient interest in the procedure”, thus the court.
FTV challenged the pharmaceutical company in 2023 because it would have made 1 billion euros ‘excessive profit’ with the medicine Humira, a remedy for rheumatism, in the period when there was a patent on the means (2004 to 2018). According to the foundation, 14,000 years of life of those 1 billion euros were won in good health from other patients. In a health care system in which choices have to be made because the care budget has limits, FTV calls the excessive profit a violation of human rights.
FTV did not demand a fine or compensation for ABBVIE, but hoped that the court could determine a general standard for drug manufacturers in determining the price of their medicines. The judge now finds that the civil proceedings that FTV brought in cannot be used for this. “It is not up to the court to set a general standard if the ruling has no concrete consequences for the parties in the proceedings. That is the field of the legislator.”
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Wilbert Bannenberg, the chairman of FTV is “disappointed that the court did not deal with the facts of the case,” he said through a press release. FTV is considering appealing.
Abbvie calls the statement “in line with our expectations.” The pharmaceuticalist says “always emphasizes that we act from the importance of the Dutch patient” and acts actively contributing to “the social dialogue about the value of innovative medicines for the Dutch care system”.