Abstract
General health has always remained a topic guaranteed to attract maximum attention. In the context of the European countries, must be safe, accessible and affordable for everyone, especially because the European population's expenses have continued to increase over the years. As an introduction to our pharmaceutical case, let's begin with some characteristics of this market followed by two key elements that the European Commission has to take into account.
Concerning the characteristics of the market, we can state that the pharmaceutical sector is R&D driven and there exists on the supply side two types of companies: the originator companies, which are active in research and whose products are generally subject to patent protection, and manufacturers of generic products, which produce medicines that are equivalent to the original products after patent expiry of the pre-existing original product. On the demand side, it is to be noted that the patient is not the decision maker. Therefore, medicines are not very price sensitive and, consequently, this feature facilitates anti-competitive behavior.
