Outgoing EU Competition Commissioner defends Pharma inquiries, says sector investigations must continue

Dutch European Member of Parliament Nellie Kroes, in her capacity as European Commissioner for Competition Policy (which she will relinquish next year; The Pharma Letter December 1), has put up a strong defense of her unit's sector investigations, including that of the pharmaceutical industry, which led to 'dawn raids' on several drugmakers as part of her crackdown on competition and transparency. Speaking at the Competition 09 Summit in Brussels, Belgium, Ms Kroes also stressed that such inquiries should continue.

She told delegates that this week 'is a good time to reflect on why we did the pharma inquiry. It was not to prove an arcane point about competition law: it was to address the sort of problems highlighted on Tuesday's World Aids Day.'

'HIV/AIDS affects more than 50 million people; it has killed more than 25 million in barely 25 years. For many it is still a needless death sentence: one which functioning generic competition and an improved patent system could help address. The work of originator companies has no doubt played an important part in making the problems of AIDS less severe in Europe, but we need to exploit every possible aspect of competition to ensure the pharma sector can make use of its full potential,' she urged.