Competition

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the competition law remedy to excessive medicine prices although competition law can be used to address various forms of abuse of intellectual property, such as restrictive provisions in licensing agreements, payment for delaying the introduction of generic medicines and abuse of patent procedures. It then examines the South African experience of using competition law to address the problem of excessive medicine prices. Competition law or its predecessor, monopoly-controlling legislations, identified excessive pricing as a form of monopoly abuse and as actionable conduct. Many developing countries had monopoly restrictive laws which prohibited excessive pricing prior to the adoption of competition laws. The essential facilities doctrine provides a good ground for competition authorities to intervene and address the issue of the excessive pricing of the patented medicines in the absence of alternative efficacious remedies to a disease's condition.