Il settore farmaceutico e la concorrenza ai tempi del Covid-19: brevi riflessioni sulla collaborazione tra imprese durante la pandemia

Competition law typically provides safeguards and exemptions for various forms of cooperation falling under the category of horizontal cooperation agreements between undertakings. In the pandemic period, competition authorities have adopted additional specific temporary measures aimed at not hindering collaboration initiatives, while they are required to remain vigilant for possible anticompetitive conduct and to strike a balance between a more permissive approach towards companies’ initiatives to address market disruptions and the need to preserve the market itself from distortions of competition. The contribution examines measures taken at European level that are relevant to pharmaceutical companies in order to analyse their scope and critical aspects.