This book offers the first complete and up-to-date analysis of the European Union's regulation of medicines. Through a reasoned description ranging from regulatory developments to the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it delineates the current European pharmaceutical regulation system. Moreover, the economic and social implications caused by the market fragmentation linked to disparities in national pricing and reimbursement schemes of pharmaceuticals are also explored here.In what was theorized to be a patchwork of rules and roles, the potential growth of the pharmaceutical industry is hampered and important inequalities in patient access are growing. What will be the next moves of European Union legislation to address the aging of the population, the higher incidence of some diseases and the growing costs of innovative medicines? Answers to such questions are offered in this book.