As we previously reported, in May 2017, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom reached a provisional conclusion that Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (MSD) violated competition law through a discount pricing scheme for Remicade that was likely to restrict biosimilar competition.
In March 2019, after considering additional evidence, the CMA reached a final decision that there are no grounds for it to take action. According to the CMA, the “decision group has concluded that MSD’s scheme was not, in practice, likely to limit competition from others – the legal test for finding MSD’s conduct to be unlawful.”
The CMA stated, however, that its investigation “serves as a warning to businesses which design discount schemes to protect their dominant market position, that they risk breaching UK competition law.”