South Korean pharmaceutical firms fined by the competition regulator for market collusion

The South Korean competition regulator, Fair Trade Commission, imposed a fine of $31.9 million on a network of 32 pharmaceutical firms for market collusion in the production, distribution and wholesale of vaccines. The companies were involved in collusive practices in a total of 170 vaccine procurement bids carried out by the Public Procurement Service in the national immunization program, which were worth around 700 billion Won in total.