District Court of Rotterdam upholds ACM’s fine on Leadiant for charging an excessive price for its prescription drug CDCA

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) correctly established that Leadiant had abused its dominant position by charging far too high a price for the prescription drug CDCA-Leadiant. This follows from a ruling of the District Court of Rotterdam of 13 February 2025.

Excessively high price for CDCA

ACM imposed a fine on Leadiant because the price of CDCA-Leadiant had been excessively high over a period of 2.5 years (between 2017 and 2019). For patients with the rare metabolic disease CTX, treatment with CDCA is indispensable. During the infringement period, CDCA-Leadiant was used to treat CTX patients in the Netherlands. An alternative to Leadiant’s drug was not available at the time.

Leadiant increased the price of CDCA-Leadiant from about €46 to nearly €14,000 per pack. Leadiant had no valid reason for this, such as innovation or significant investments. Patients had been treated with CDCA for years and depended on this drug for their health. Applying excessive prices is prohibited for a company in a dominant position. The fact that Leadiant has registered a CDCA-based drug as an orphan drug does not justify the excessive price increase.

Court upholds fine: ACM decision remains in place

Leadiant claimed that ACM had wrongly fined it, and that ACM had made procedural errors. The District Court disagrees with Leadiant. ACM assessed the excessiveness and unfairness of CDCA-Leadiant's price in a careful and objective manner, according to the District Court. ACM's decision therefore remains in effect.

An appeal against this ruling can be filed with the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb).

Read the ruling of the District Court of Rotterdam on rechtspraak.nl (external website) (in Dutch only)