نقش حقوق رقابت در بهبود سلامت عمومی

Competition as an important incentive for innovation leads to freedom of choice and price reduction and contributes to more rapid provision of new and effective therapeutic technologies. On the other hand, anti-competitive practices adopted by economic undertakings in the health sector may disrupt competition including limited access to medicines and medical services or increase in their price. Examples of anti-competitive practices are ever greening, merger and acquisition of companies, purchase of generic products by the branded patent owner and refusal to license essential patents in the health sector. The research question is whether competition law can be a significant factor in regulating competition and improving access to medicines and medical technologies. The objective of this article is to study the role of competition law in improving public health including access to medicines and negative effect of anti-competitive practices in prices increase and limiting access. The hypothesis of this research is that competition law may act as an effective factor in the health sector in improving access to medical technologies and encouraging innovation in the medicines sector. The results of this research show that since national laws and international agreements including TRIPS Agreement have recognized the role of competition law in controlling the behavior of intellectual property owners, more effective actions to increase competition and corrective actions to compensate anti-competitive practices regarding access to medical technologies must be done by governmental and private authorities. Modification of existing laws, enacting suitable laws involving clear rules considering characteristics of the health sector, and proper remedies such as compulsory licensing are among solutions which are recommended to prevent anti-competitive practices and maintaining competition in the market. Please cite this article as: Bakhtiarvand M, Jamali Nezhad SH. Role of Competition Law in Improving Public Health. Iran J Med Law 2017; 11(42): 165-190.