Competition Regulation

Research Paper 143, 11 January 2022

Brazilian Competition Law and Access to Health in Brazil: Exploitative Pricing in the Pharmaceutical Sector

By Bruno Braz de Castro

This paper aims to analyze the interfaces between Brazilian Competition Law and the issue of access to medicines, with a special focus on abuse of industrial property rights and related exclusionary and exploitative effects. The paper analyzes the case law of Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in the pharmaceutical sector and discusses abusive practices such as illegitimately imposing non-existent or invalid intellectual property rights with anticompetitive purposes. It then addresses abusive strategies in the exercise of industrial property rights which are, in essence, valid: i.e., exclusionary practices, aimed at artificially raising barriers to entry; and exploitative practices, directly translated as the exercise of market power to the detriment of the consumer. The latter ultimately result in exploitative excessive prices; contractual, quality or privacy degradation; and restrictions on supply, such as by hoarding/preventing the exploitation of industrial property rights. The paper concludes that the prohibition of exploitative pricing under the current competition law is legally valid and effective, with certain methodological concerns towards reducing the risk of wrongful convictions (for instance, by applying screening tests to determine the markets that are candidates for intervention). In view of such guidelines, the pharmaceutical industry appears to be an important candidate for antitrust attention, given the magnitude of the harm potentially derived from non-intervention against the practice. Remedies in this area, importantly, should focus on identifying and solving the sector’s structural competitive problems. In the case of medicines subject to price regulation by the Drug Market Regulation Chamber (CMED), the technical expertise of the competition authority may be of great value in terms of competition advocacy, a fact that is demonstrated in light of recent discussions on extraordinary price adjustments because of competitive problems in certain markets.

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SouthViews No. 240, 1 September 2022

Competition Law and Intellectual Property: A Study Drawing from The Eli Lilly Case on ‘Sham Litigation’ in Brazil

By Pablo Leurquin

Competition authorities may be the best equipped institutions to penalize certain illicit practices that involve intellectual property rights. This article analyzes the decision by the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica – CADE) in the Eli Lilly case, in which the company was convicted for abusive use of the right to petition (sham litigation) with anti-competitive effects. It examines general aspects of technological dependence in the Brazilian pharmaceutical industry, presents the legal premises necessary for the understanding of the decision made by the competition authority, and analyzes the legal grounds for the sanction imposed on Eli Lilly.

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Research Paper 143, 11 de janeiro de 2022

Direito Brasileiro da Concorrência e Acesso à Saúde no Brasil: Preços Exploratórios no Setor de Medicamentos

Por Bruno Braz de Castro

O presente trabalho tem por objeto analisar interfaces entre o Direito da Concorrência brasileiro e o tema do acesso a medicamentos, com especial atenção aos abusos de direitos de propriedade industrial em seus efeitos exclusionários e exploratórios. O trabalho analisa a jurisprudência do Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) no setor de medicamentos e discute os abusos visando à imposição ilegítima de direitos de propriedade intelectual inexistentes ou inválidos com finalidade anticompetitiva. Em seguida, aborda os abusos no exercício de direitos de propriedade industrial que sejam, por si, válidos: práticas exclusionárias, voltadas à elevação artificial de barreiras à entrada, e práticas exploratórias, traduzidas diretamente no exercício de poder de mercado em detrimento ao consumidor. Estas últimas são manifestadas na forma de preços excessivos exploratórios, degradações contratuais, de qualidade ou de privacidade, bem como restrições na oferta como o açambarcamento/impedimento de exploração de direitos de propriedade industrial. O artigo conclui pela validade e eficácia jurídica da proibição a preços exploratórios pela Lei de Defesa da Concorrência vigente, com certas preocupações metodológicas a fim de minorar o risco de condenações errôneas (como a construção de testes “screening” de mercados-candidatos a intervenção). Em atenção a tais diretrizes, o setor de medicamentos comparece como candidato importante à atenção antitruste, haja vista a magnitude dos prejuízos potencialmente derivados da não-intervenção sobre a prática. Remédios nessa seara, de modo importante, devem focar na identificação e solução dos problemas competitivos estruturais do setor. Em caso de medicamentos sujeitos à regulação de preços pela Câmara de Regulação do Mercado de Medicamentos (CMED), a expertise técnica da autoridade concorrencial poderá ser de grande valia em sede de advocacia da concorrência, o que é demonstrado à luz das discussões recentes acerca do reajuste extraordinário de preços em virtude de problemas concorrenciais de determinado mercado.

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Research Paper 142, 4 January 2022

Competition Law and Access to Medicines: Lessons from Brazilian Regulation and Practice  

by Matheus Z. Falcão, Mariana Gondo and Ana Carolina Navarrete

Competition law may play an important role in drug pricing control by containing high prices derived from economic violations. Since the use of competition tools is not limited by the TRIPS Agreement or other international binding disciplines, there is ample policy room to explore how countries, especially in the Global South, can benefit from strengthening their jurisdiction on that matter. This article briefly explains the Brazilian Competition System by describing the structure of the Brazilian competition authority (CADE – Administrative Council for Economic Defense) and the main economic violations set forth by Brazilian law. It describes the convergence of competition with the consumer protection system. It also discusses three relevant pharmaceutical market cases examined by the competition authority (sham litigation, overpricing and economic abuse, buy-and-raise and exclusionary practices). Finally, it presents some lessons from the Brazilian case on the challenges of using competition law to confront abuse or misuse of intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical market, with lessons to other developing countries.

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Policy Brief 103, September 2021

Strong Intellectual Property Protection, Weak Competition Rules – or the Other Way Around to Accelerate Technology Transfer to the Global South? Ten Considerations for a “Prodevelopment” IP-Related Competition Law

By Klaus D. Beiter

Competition law provisions relating to intellectual property (IP) rights should play an enhanced role in facilitating the domestic and international transfer and dissemination of technology. IP-related competition rules in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) create an obligation for Member States to apply competition law in the IP context. TRIPS competition rules should be read in a “prodevelopment” fashion – IP rights need to be read reductively, IP-related competition law expansively. Ten considerations for a “prodevelopment” IP-related competition law are formulated.

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Policy Brief 89, March 2021

Competition Regulation in Healthcare in South Africa

By Hardin Ratshisusu

South Africa’s nascent competition regulatory regime is coming of age and has potential to address historical market concentration challenges previously enabled by the apartheid regime, prior to its dismantling in the 1990s. Many sectors of the economy are highly concentrated, including the private healthcare sector, with market outcomes that breed market failures, lack of competitiveness and high cost of care. Looking through competition in the healthcare sector it becomes evident that the market structure challenges do not only require domestic interventions, but also a global response to address some policy and regulatory gaps.

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