EU General Court upholds European Commission’s strict approach to “Pay-for-delay” agreements

Key Points:

• In a series of rulings dated 8 September 2016, the EU General Court (General Court) upheld the European Commission (Commission) decision of 19 June 2013 in the Lundbeck case.
• The Commission had imposed heavy fines on Lundbeck and four generic companies with whom Lundbeck had entered into agreements which delayed the entry of generic versions of Lundbeck’s blockbuster antidepressant medicine, citalopram.
• The Commission found that these agreements constituted an infringement by object within the meaning of Article 101 TFEU (which like the “per se” rule under U.S. antitrust law, dispenses with the need for an inquiry into their competitive effects) and imposed a €93.7 million fine on Lundbeck and fines totalling €52.2 million on the four generic companies.
• The 8 September 2016 rulings are significant because they are the first decisions from the General Court regarding the compatibility of these types of so-called “pay for delay” agreements with competition law and the General Court upheld the Commission’s conclusion that the agreements at issue were infringements by object.

Read: EU General Court upholds European Commission’s strict approach to “Pay-for-delay” agreements

Lire : Le Tribunal de l’Union européenne valide dans l’affaire Lundbeck l’approche stricte adoptée par la Commission européenne en matière d’accords transactionnels entre princeps et génériques (« pay-for-delay »)