The Spanish Supreme Court Rules On Dual-Pricing Against Pfizer

On 3 December 2014, the Spanish Supreme Court handed down a judgment in the Pfizer dual-pricing case, ruling that special pricing legislation in Spain does not prevent the application of the competition laws.

The case began when a wholesaler, Spain Pharma SA, filed a complaint in 2005 with the Spanish Competition Authority (the "CNMC"), alleging that Pfizer had been adopting measures to impede parallel exports by establishing two different prices for its products, depending on whether the goods would be delivered and sold in Spain or in other EU Member States. Pfizer argued that it, in fact, set a single price for all sales in Spain. However, in the case of pharmaceuticals to be reimbursed by the Spanish social security system, its price was substituted by a (much lower) price determined by Spanish legislation on the pricing of medicines. Following an investigation, the CNMC closed the proceedings, finding that the measures were exempted under Regulation