Skip to content

PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice.

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse and build upon scientific knowledge.

We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

PLOS BLOGS Speaking of Medicine and Health

EU drugs industry antitrust report out…

The European Commission posted yesterday its report of the pharmaceutical industry from an 18 month investigation of drug industry practices in relation to European Union (EU) antitrust law – summary available here; final report here.

The report finds that patients in the EU are waiting too long for cheaper generic drugs after patents expire, and that the Commission will bring legal cases where it believes companies are acting in an anti-competitive way to delay generics coming to market.

Other conclusions include recommendations for unified EU-wide patent systems to reduce bureaucracy, and new processes for speeding up patent review and generics approvals.

The Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has commented “The first antitrust investigations are already under way, and regulatory adjustments are expected to follow dealing with a range of problems in the sector.”

Back to top