Delineating Relevant Markets in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry is a complex industry for competition law authorities around the globe as defining relevant market in the industry has been highly intricate. Traditionally to define the relevant market in the pharmaceutical industry competition authorities have employed therapeutic and chemical classification, which is a starting point for determining the relevant market. However, the use of this classification is not binding and has its own set of concerns. A civil court of Venice (Italy) has deployed a different approach other than the traditionally used therapeutic and chemical classification in defining the relevant market in abuse of dominant case against Glaxosmithkline SpA (GSK), a drug manufacturer in Italy. Present paper revolves around the competition law aspects of the judgment as it is of great interest in the field of pharmaceutical industry with respect to the principles of Competition law applied in the industry.