Lessons In Losec: The Astrazeneca Dominance Decision

Introduction

December's decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") in the AstraZeneca case is unsurprising: the Court refused AstraZeneca's application to have the General Court's decision set aside (AstraZeneca v. Commission¹). The General Court last year essentially upheld the European Commission's decision of 2005², which found AstraZeneca guilty of having abused dominance by using its IPRs and the pharmaceutical regulatory system to prevent or delay the marketing of generic versions of its ulcer treatment drug, Losec.

The Commission's original infringement decision³ was seminal. It was the first abuse of dominance case in the pharmaceutical sector and remains to this day the only abuse decision that the Commission has taken in respect of a pharmaceutical company.