A different remedy

The UK competition authorities recently cleared a healthcare merger resulting in a combined market share in excess of 90% for one of the relevant products, merely imposing a temporary price cap. This seemed to mark a departure from the European Commission's approach to pharmaceutical merger cases, and its tendency to seek product divestments if market shares exceeded 40-50%. The explanation lies in the role of regulation and buyer power in the UK health service, which featured prominently in the UK decision. In this bulletin, we expore the implications.

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