(Yicai) March 24 -- Shanghai’s market watchdog has handed fines totalling CNY223 million (USD32.1 million) to three Chinese drugmakers for monopoly practices between 2020 and 2023.

Chengdu Huixin Medicine, Henan Runhong Pharmaceutical, and Shanghai Sine United Pharmaceuticals colluded to inflate the price of neostigmine methylsulfate injection by 11 to 21 times and restricted fair competition by dividing medical institutions among themselves to maintain their respective market shares, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation announced on March 21.

In addition to the fines, the regulator ordered the three companies to stop their illegal acts and confiscated their illegal gains. The total penalty imposed on United Pharma amounted to CNY166 million.

Neostigmine methylsulfate injection reverses the effects of non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking at the end of surgery and treats myasthenia gravis, a long-term condition that causes muscle weakness. Sales of the jab in China’s public hospitals exceeded CNY1 billion (USD138 million) in 2023, but its price plunged 94 percent after being added to the national drug procurement list last year, according to market data.

This case also marks the first time that individuals have been held accountable for entering into monopoly agreements under the "personal liability" clause that was added to China’s Anti-Monopoly Law in 2022. The three people involved were fined CNY500,000 (USD68,650) each.

Monopoly agreements are hard to uncover, investigate, and prove because of their secretive nature, said Wang Xianlin, vice president of the Economic Law Research Association at the China Law Society.

The leniency system plays a crucial role in breaking up monopoly agreements and securing key evidence, improving the efficiency of anti-monopoly enforcement while reducing enforcement costs, Wang noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione