The EU Commission’s pharmaceuticals sector inquiry report signals future antitrust actions

The pharmaceuticals sector in the European Union will remain under close antitrust scrutiny in the coming years. This is confirmed by the Communication the European Commission released yesterday in which it summarizes the main conclusions from its sector inquiry that started in January 2008. Whilst the Commission identifies specific practices which it says have caused market distortions, and which are therefore likely to attract attention of antitrust enforcers, the Commission does not give further legal guidance on the application of competition law principles in this field. The most significant legal changes are rather related to the (national) regulatory environment which already has proven to be deficient and where reforms at EU level are in the making. A sector inquiry is a policy