Bundled Discounts and Combination Products: Implications of Norvir for Drug Manufacturers

Like other sellers of products and services, pharmaceutical manufacturers face significant uncertainty in the application of antitrust laws to ‘‘bundled’’ discounts—i.e., discounts offered only when multiple products are purchased together. Equally unclear is the antitrust framework to be applied to combination products that consist of two or more goods that are packaged together, but that may also be sold separately. For both bundled discounts and combination products, antitrust issues typically arise when the manufacturer may be said to have market power in at least one of the products that is priced or packaged together with others.

Reproduced with permission from BNA’s Health Law Reporter, 18 HLR 1028, 08/20/2009. Copyright - 2009 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com/