UK’s CC set to keep IMS pharma data undertakings in place

The UK Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally decided against varying or removing undertakings which restrict the way in which IMS Health (IMS) sells its specialized pharmaceutical data services.

The CC has provisionally concluded that, despite the publication of National Health Service (NHS) prescription data, IMS still faces limited competition in this market - and that, without the undertakings, IMS could use its position to create bundled products and stymie any emerging competitors. It has found that the NHS data is not yet frequent or extensive enough for IMS’s competitors to use it as a data source or for its customers to self-supply.

Martin Cave, chairman of the IMS Review Group at the CC, said: “Whilst the publication of further NHS prescription data may in time lead to the sort of competition that could allow us to remove the undertakings, it hasn’t had that effect yet. IMS still faces little direct competition so we provisionally think that the undertakings need to be retained so that competitors have the chance to emerge.”