On 29 January, Covington hosted its webinar on the ECJ’s Hoffmann-La Roche vs Autorità Garante della Concurrenza e del Mercato judgment.  Miranda Cole discussed the potential implications of this judgment for market definition, field of use licences and indication-based pricing.  The full presentation can be found here.

The Italian Council of State referred five questions to the ECJ in March 2016 in the context of the appeal against the Italian Competition Authority’s decision that Roche and Novartis reached an illegal market-sharing agreement in the market for ophthalmic drugs for serious vascular eyesight conditions.  In September 2017, Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe took the position that licensed and unlicensed pharmaceutical products used for the same indication may fall within the same relevant product market.