Methodological Approaches of a Pharmaceutical Company’s Commercial Policy Development in Order to Reduce Antitrust Risks

Within the framework of the publication the authors of the article defined the category of “commercial policy” and the conceptual thesaurus associated with it, summarized the basic legal requirements and recommendations of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service for the development and implementation of commercial policies of companies operating in the pharmaceutical and medical device markets, including those with a dominant position. A set of explanations of the regulatory framework, law enforcement practice in relation to manufacturers of medicines is presented, the most significant provisions of the Recommendations of the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Code of Pharmaceutical Market Participants are systematized and highlighted. Based on the conducted research, which includes an audit of regulatory documents of pharmaceutical companies, systematization of data on the applied criteria for selecting and evaluating counterparties, economically sound recommendations are proposed on the hierarchy of requirements applied to counterparties in the pharmaceutical drugs and medical products market. A methodology for evaluating potential partners and existing counterparties has been developed and tested, which ensures non-discriminatory access to the market for participants, transparency and legitimacy of the decision-making procedure on the conclusion or termination of supply contracts. The structural and dynamic analysis of incentive payments made it possible to identify approaches to the formation of a fair and competitive system of discounts and incentive instruments.