LUXEMBOURG, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Europe's top court told EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday to review their veto of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline's efforts to combat wholesalers exploiting price differentials across the region.
GlaxoSmithKline sought approval from the European Commission in 1998 to set higher prices in Spain in a bid to reduce parallel trade, in which wholesalers buy drugs in low-priced markets and resell them in countries where prices are higher.
The Commission, the European Union executive, prohibited this practice in 2001, saying the firm's dual pricing system restricted price competition. In June this year, a court adviser said the EU antitrust watchdog should review its decision.
"The Commission must reconsider whether GlaxoSmithKline's general sales conditions in Spain may be exempted from the Community competition rules," the European Court of Justice said in a statement.
Parallel trade accounts for 4.5 billion euros ($6.6 billion), a fraction of the EU's 130 billion euro prescription drugs market. Supporters say these lower prices save national health systems 500 million to 1 billion euros annually. (Reporting by Michele Sinner; Editing by Dale Hudson)