Generic Pharmaceuticals

Practices that may harm competition in the pharmaceutical sector have emerged as important and controversial issues in recent years. The Committee examined the nature of competition between generic and branded products in the pharmaceutical sector, as well as the effects on competition of agreements to delay the entry of generics on the market. The discussion showed that the pharmaceutical sector is highly regulated, driven by R&D, and very dependent on patent protection. It also revealed that regulation of pharmaceutical prices and other factors has mixed effects, solving or mitigating some problems while creating or worsening others. One lesson was that competition authorities should be involved not only in competition