European Commission Sector Investigation into Pharmaceutical Industry CompetitivenessTony Woodgate, Marco Slotboom and Oliver Heinisch report that the commission's inquiry could have far-reaching consequences.

摘要

The outcome of the sector investigation that the European Commission has launched into the pharmaceutical markets will have a big impact on how competition law is applied in the pharmaceutical industry.Several matters are critical to the issues that will be examined as part of the probe, which the commission launched in January using its antitrust investigation powers to conduct a number of unannounced dawn raids at both innovative and generic pharmaceutical companies~(14). These matters include: the correct relationship between patents (and other intellectual property rights) and the competition rules in Europe; the correct respect to be accorded to national patent litigation mechanisms; and the benefits of settling litigation.The competition law sector investigation starts a long-term, intrusive and likely controversial general enquiry into competition in the sector and follows the increasing interest being taken by the commission in pharmaceutical industry agreements and practices.