The EU General Court annuls a decision of the Commission for wrongly qualifying agreements as "pay for delay" and improperly qualifying an abuse of dominance, thus reducing the fine imposed on a pharmaceutical company (Servier)

The General Court annuls in part the European Commission’s decision finding the existence of restrictive agreements and an abuse of a dominant position on the market for perindopril, a medicine used to treat hypertension and heart failure* On 12 December 2018, the General Court (“Court”) partially annulled the European Commission’s decision of 9 July 2014 in the Servier case and consequently reduced Servier’s fine by more than 30%, from €330.99 million to €228.32 million. After the Lundbeck judgment of 8 September 2016, this second decision on pay for delay cases provides useful guidance to pharmaceutical companies on the assessment of patent settlement agreements under European competition law. Key Takeaways: When a medicine is not objectively recognized or perceived by practitioners