Dear Readers,
The Healthcare Sector continues to be fertile ground for antitrust issues, whether in the case of hospital or pharmaceutical mergers (vertical, cross-market, etc.), pay for delay issues, patent settlements, or parallel exports, etc.
CPI is pleased to present out latest Antitrust Chronicle® focusing on some of these hotly discussed topics in the Healthcare Sector in the United States and Europe.
The DOJ’s Antitrust Division remains focused on anticompetitive practices in the Healthcare Sector. At the ABA Healthcare Conference on May 17, 2018, Barry Nigro, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, stated: “Because competition benefits consumers in so many ways, antitrust enforcement will continue to play an outsized role in healthcare.” Mr. Nigro continued: “Protecting and fostering competition in this space is a responsibility that we at the Antitrust Division take very seriously, and, because of that, antitrust enforcement in healthcare will continue to be a high priority for the Division.”
The same holds true in Europe. The European Commission regularly monitors business practices in the pharmaceutical, health services, and medical devices markets. The Commission’s main enforcement actions in antitrust and mergers in the pharmaceutical sector are set out in its “Report on competition enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector (2009-2017).” The Report was drawn up in cooperation with the national competition authorities and explains how competition authorities in the EU are working together.
We hope this edition of the CPI Antitrust Chronicle® will help further the discussions and add to the rich debate on these timely issues.
Lastly, please take the opportunity to visit the CPI website and listen to our selection of Chronicle articles in audio form from such esteemed authors as Maureen Ohlhausen, Herbert Hovenkamp, Richard Gilbert, Nicholas Banasevic, Randal Picker, Giorgio Monti, Alison Jones, and William Kovacic among others. This is a convenient way for our readers to keep up with our recent and past articles on the go, in the gym, or at the beach.
As always, thank you to our great panel of authors.
Sincerely,
CPI Team
