Three new anti-monopoly risk trends that pharmaceutical companies need to be vigilant against have been fully implemented:
Following the horizontal monopoly case in Shanghai in March 2023, this is the second case in which personal liability is clarified, and the amount of individual fines can reach up to 1 million yuan. In the future, it will be difficult for corporate executives to be exempted from liability on the grounds that they "obey orders", and executives will become the direct subject of anti-monopoly liability.
Significant increase in the proportion of fines: The maximum penalty ratio in horizontal monopoly cases in Shanghai has reached 10%, and the 8% penalty ratio in this case also shows that the punishment of the regulatory authorities has been significantly escalated. For pharmaceutical companies, hundreds of millions of fines are enough to seriously impact the company's operation and capital market valuation.
The field of APIs continues to be high: due to the limited number of API companies and high market concentration, it has become a key focus area for regulatory authorities. In the future, whether it is in the process of centralized procurement or market competition, the price adjustment, information sharing and market coordination behavior of API enterprises will become the focus of law enforcement.