Opening remarks by Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera on the Commission decision to accept commitments by Sanofi

I'm happy to see you here to discuss a topic that speaks very much to people, to every citizen in Europe.

You know that we work hard to ensure affordable medicines. We also work hard to ensure reliable information and to fight against disinformation. These two topics are connected in today's case.

Autumn has arrived in Brussels, even if it is a sunny day. And autumn means influenza. It means that many vulnerable people may face health difficulties. In some cases, not being vaccinated, means people dying during autumn and winter.

So yes, these are the days when we all, including myself, by the way, are turning to our doctors and pharmacies to look for advice on flu vaccination. This matters because, every year, vaccination helps prevent premature deaths and ensures the wellbeing of our citizens. Directly connected to that, people who are not vaccinated may face illness and hospitalisation because of their weaker health status.

This is why our doctors, our pharmacists and, ultimately, our citizens must be able to trust the information they receive about the type of vaccine they may be using.

And reliable information means clear, evidence-based information available to all. It means information supported by public health agencies. They identify where the evidence is sufficiently clear and established to confirm the reliability of medicines marketed in Europe.

There should be no room for misleading information or for companies to distort public health recommendations to promote their own products. That is not good practice.  We need to fight against that practice.

Such conduct would be problematic as a general matter. But it can also constitute an abuse of dominance when this type of misleading information comes from a company with a significant share of, and a strong position in, a given market.