European regulators will ask brand-name drugmakers for details of their deals with generic companies as part a crackdown on firms suspected of blocking cheaper treatments, a European Commission official disclosed, according to Reuters.

Last July, you may recall, European Union competition commissioner Neelie Kroes issued a report saying that delays in bringing generic drugs to the market had cost consumers and healthcare providers billions. And last month, the European Commission raided several drugmakers on suspicion they had violated rules against restrictive business practices and abuse of a dominant position.

“We will ask companies to give a copy of patent settlements between July 2008 to December 2009,” Dominik Schnichels, who heads the commission’s pharma taskforce, told an industry conference. “We will not take the view per se that patent settlements are probably illegal but we would look closely at the justification the company gives for the settlement. We will look at the merits of the case.”