The UK Competitions (anti-trust) regulator has fined various drugs companies £260 million over a scheme which resulted in a drug increasing in price by over 12,000%. In it the original maker made a drug generic but then paid off rival manufacturers to not produce the drug. The NHS was then forced to purchase it at ever increasing prices. All the companies were fined. With the complex ownership of the maker, there are several companies involved in meeting the fine.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the drug’s makers Auden Mckenzie and Actavis UK, now known as Accord-UK, used their position as the sole providers of hydrocortisone to inflate the price of the drug. Tens of thousands of people in the UK depend on hydrocortisone tablets to treat adrenal insufficiency, which includes life-threatening conditions such as Addison’s disease, the CMA said.
The investigation found that the companies were able to inflate the price of hydrocortisone tablets by more than 10,000% compared with the original branded version on sale in 2008. This meant the amount the NHS had to pay for a single pack of 10mg tablets rose from 70p in April 2008 to £88 by March 2016.
The companies also paid would-be rivals to stay out of the market, the watchdog found.
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Before April 2008, the NHS spent about £500,000 a year on hydrocortisone tablets but this had risen to more than £80m by 2016.
I understand that as this is a criminal fine, it does not preclude the NHS from seeking to recover the overcharge as a civil claim.