Competition authorities continue to address excessive pricing in the pharmaceutical sector

Is the price right?

23.07.2020

Pricing issues remain a hot topic for the competition authorities, as arguably now more than ever, there is a pressing need to crack down on excessively high prices in the pharmaceutical sector.

In the UK, the CMA is pursuing a number of investigations into pharmaceutical companies over excessive and unfair pricing in breach of Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998 (CA98). This falls against the backdrop of the Court of Appeal’s ruling in the Phenytoin Sodium case in March, in which the court clarified the correct application of the legal test in United Brands to determine whether prices set by Pfizer and Flynn were excessive and unfair (see our article on this here).  In line with this judgment, the CMA will need to adjust its approach in both the Phenytoin investigation and in other ongoing excessive pricing investigations in the pharmaceutical sector.

One such case is the CMA’s investigation into Advanz Pharma’s Liothyronine, a treatment for hypothyroidism.

Read the full article on our competition law blog, The CLIP Board – The Price is Not Right: Competition authorities continue to address excessive pricing in the pharmaceutical sector