European Court of Justice on tiered pricing for pharmaceuticals

The highest court in Europe stood with the pharmaceutical manufacturers. The ECJs decision is related to a case filed by GSK, but this is important for the whole industry in dealing with the issue of parallel-trade. In the late 90's GlaxoSmithKline introduced differentiated prices with Spanish wholesalers according to whether they resold the products in question in Spain or other EU countries. The European Commission initially ruled that was a no-no, due to violation of antitrust rules. This week, the ECJ now upheld in large parts an earlier judgment of the European Court of First Instance and found that such an agreement - although in principle a breach of EU Competition law rules - may be subject to an exemption considering the potential wider benefits to economy, society and research, in particular on innovation.

Click hereto read the ECJ statement.