Five years and two weeks is a long time to wait for a judgment on appeal. For many, it is too long. However, such is the nature of the General Court’s July 1, 2010 judgment in AstraZeneca v. Commission that innovative pharmaceutical manufacturers and other companies who are at risk of being found dominant may well wish the Court had never issued its judgment at all. Although the precise implications of the AstraZeneca judgment for the European Commission’s (Commission)enforcement policy under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) will only gradually become known, it seems clear that the Commission will be emboldened in its pursuit of alleged abuses of dominance. This article seeks to explore key parts of the judgment and their potential impact on Article 102 TFEU enforcement in the EU.
This article was originally published in the CPI Antitrust Journal.