Overview of EU regulatory and competition law in the Pharma sector

We are pleased to announce that, for the third consecutive year, our in-depth guide to EU pharmaceutical competition and regulatory law has been published in Lexology's Getting the Deal Through: Pharmaceutical Antitrust.

This publication provides a comprehensive overview of competition law and regulation relevant to the pharmaceutical sector across several jurisdictions. It covers legislation and enforcement authorities, public and private enforcement and remedies, sector inquiries, involvement of health authorities and NGOs; mergers review; anti-competitive agreements; anti-competitive unilateral conduct; pharmaceutical regulatory law (framework, authorities, pricing, distribution and intersection with competition law); as well as recent trends.

This year's edition includes the latest updates on EU competition law and regulatory developments in the sector, including:

• Recent EU case law, with significant developments in the long-running Illumina/Grail saga and the ongoing Commission's antitrust investigations into Teva and Vifor Pharma.
• Newly opened Commission antitrust investigations, such as those into Edwards Lifesciences for allegedly using anti-competitive patent strategies to exclude 'copycat' products, and Zoetis, a global animal health company, for allegedly abusing its dominant position to block the launch of a competing product.
• The Commission's first cartel infringement decision in the pharmaceutical sector in the N-butyl bromide scopolamine/hyoscine (SNBB) cartel.
• The Commission's review of several key instruments that will affect the application of competition law to the sector, including the Market Definition Notice, the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation, and the Commission's Guidance on Enforcement Priorities for the application of Article 102 TFEU.
• The new Foreign Subsidies Regulation and its significant implications for transactions.

Our EU chapter can be accessed online here. The full guide can be accessed here (subscription required).