Germany’s antitrust agency has launched an investigation into the German drugmaker for reportedly conspiring with some 11,000 pharmacies to artifically inflate the price of its popular aspirin. The probe was first reported by Stern magazine and later confirmed by the agency.

Bayer allegedly offered to sell the painkiller to pharmacies for a discount of up to 3 percent if, in return, the pharmacies agreed to put the pill on sale in their store for only up to four weeks - and for a price reduction of no more than 20 percent. “We are investigating the accusations,” says Silke Kaul, a spokeswoman for the antitrust agency. A Bayer spokesman denies the allegations.

“There has been no illegal price-fixing,” sniffs Hartmut Alsfasser, adding that Bayer had contacted the antitrust agency and offered its cooperation in the investigation. “The company gives non-binding price recommendations,” Alsfasser tells Dow Jones Newswires. “It certainly doesn’t fix prices,” he said, adding that it’s up to the pharmacists to decide on the prices for Bayer’s non-prescription products, such as Aspirin