Italy: Autorita turns spotlight on pharmaceuticals
Monday, 1 June 1998
Featured In: June / July 1998 (Vol. 1 Iss. 3)
Parallel behaviour on prices can be very lucrative in this sector where, because of the essential nature of pharmaceuticals, demand is very stable. More often than not, demand is determined by the doctor who prescribes the medicine rather than by the consumer. The problem of proving parallel conduct has always been a topical issue in competition law. In the absence of hard evidence pointing to contact between undertakings, it is likely that the Authority will rely on the Dyestuff case, in which the ECJ stated that price increases which are very similar in timing and rate of price change cannot be explained by independent market forces.
Salvatore Lamarca
Freshfields
Milan
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