Competition Tribunal dismisses JAMP’s abuse of dominance application against Janssen

As discussed in a previous post, JAMP brought an application under the Competition Act seeking leave to bring an application against Janssen alleging abuse of dominance in relation to Stelara, Janssen’s drug containing the active ingredient Ustekinumab. JAMP alleged that Janssen had “conceived of and implemented a series of inter-connected anti-competitive acts”.

The Competition Tribunal has dismissed JAMP’s application for leave. The Tribunal found that to be “directly and substantially affected in the applicant’s business by any practice” does not require that an applicant be directly and substantially affected in its entire business. However, the Tribunal found that JAMP had not adduced sufficient evidence to give rise to a bona fide belief that an order could be made under the abuse of dominance provision of the Competition Act (s.79(1)).

The Tribunal’s reasons are currently confidential but it published a brief notice of the decision (available here). A public version of the reasons is to be released approximately 10 days after the notice.