The Application of EU Competition Law in the Pharmaceutical Sector

This survey article discusses the major EU competition law developments in the pharmaceutical sector from 1 January 2017 through 31 March 2018. Section 2 addresses cases on restrictions of competition from generic suppliers, including the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal’s judgment in GlaxoSmithKline on patent settlements, the European Commission’s annual patent settlement monitoring report and the French Competition Authority’s decision in Johnson & Johnson involving an abuse of regulatory process and denigration. Section 3 covered the recent cases prosecuting excessive pricing, including Aspen and Pfizer/Flynn in the United Kingdom. Section 4 discusses the EU Court of Justice’s judgment in Roche/Novartis concerning licensing agreements. Section 5 addresses recent decisions, judgments, and regulations in EU Member States on the ongoing issue of parallel trade. Finally, Section 6 covers the opening of new national pharmaceutical sector inquiries.