Key issues for vertical agreements in the life sciences sector

This year has seen a number of significant changes to the EU and UK competition regimes, particularly in relation to vertical agreements.  These changes have the potential to affect existing and new agreements in the life sciences sector, and divergences between the EU and UK approaches may increase complexity for companies with multi-national operations.  The life sciences sector has long been at the top of EU and national (including UK) authorities’ priority list given its importance to governments and patients – changes to the competition regimes should therefore be high on companies’ watch lists.