Corporate & Securities Law

EC on Pharmaceuticals

By David Fischer

Today, the European Commission published its preliminary report on the competition inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector. The New York Times, which misleading headlines its article “E.U. Accuses Drug Makers of Gouging Consumers,” reports:

The European Union accused drug companies on Friday of adding billions of dollars to health care costs by delaying or blocking the sale of less expensive generic medicines.

One common tactic, said Neelie Kroes, the European competition commissioner, was for drug companies to amass patents to protect active ingredients in the medicines ? in one case, 1,300 patents for a single drug.  Another tactic, she said, was for pharmaceutical companies to sue the makers of generic drugs for ostensible patent violations, which tended to delay the availability of the lower-cost products for years.

Hyperbole aside, as the report itself states, it “does not seek … to each any conclusion as to whether certain practices described in the report infringe EC Competition law.”

More to come, but until then, check out the preliminary report and its executive summary; also online are several fact sheets, a press release and Commissioner Kroes’ comments.

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on November 28, 2008 (boomark / email).