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ARTICLE · 04 JULY 2019

Pharma No Longer Under The Competition Radar

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The use of competition law to regulate the pharmaceutical industry is beginning to see a new impetus.

MaltaAntitrust/Competition Law
Gayle Kimberley
Gayle Kimberley
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The use of competition law to regulate the pharmaceutical industry is beginning to see a new impetus. While traditionally competition authorities struggled to use competition law to address the pharmaceutical sector's practices, EU legislators have given a clear political signal that something needs to be done to address anti-competitive practices of pharmaceutical companies which, they believe, are endangering patients' access to affordable and innovative essential medicines.

Enough is almost enough

The warning came back in 2009 when the European Commission carried out a sector inquiry to investigate causes of low levels of competition in the market for human medicines in Europe (See: Final Report of the sector inquiry). The result was clear: market access for generic medicines needed to be improved! The question was "how"? The answer was "Competition law"!

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