Antitrust

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Welcome to the latest installment of Arnold & Porter’s Virtual and Digital Health Digest. This digest covers key virtual and digital health regulatory and public policy developments during March and early April 2025 from the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

The biggest change this month is that as of March 25, 2025, the European Health Data Space Regulation (EHDS Regulation) is now in force. This means that, as it is gradually implemented, companies will be able to request access to electronic health data for health care purposes, including for use in scientific research, and may be required to share certain health data that they hold. The implementation of the EHDS Regulation is likely to raise a number of questions, which future European Commission implementing regulations or guidelines may clarify.Continue Reading Virtual and Digital Health Digest – April 2025

On 28 January 2019, the European Commission (Commission) published its Report to the Council and the European Parliament on Competition Enforcement in the pharmaceutical Sector (2009-2017) (Report). This takes stock of all the pharma cases that the Commission has pursued at EU level and that national competition authorities have investigated over the past 10 years.  It responds to recent concerns raised by the Council and European Parliament that anti-competitive practices of pharmaceutical companies may prevent patients’ access to affordable and innovative medicines.

In parallel, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been very active in investigating the pharma sector and currently has some eight ongoing investigations. Some of these investigations are being narrowed but the overall mood music is that authorities regard pharma cases a high priority. This trend is likely to continue for some time yet.

The key takeaways are (i) pharma cases are likely to continue to be of interest to competition authorities (ii) entry restrictions, high price strategies and loss of exclusivity are key areas of concern together with, going forward, the entry of biosimilar competition.Continue Reading European Competition enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector: more to be expected?