Big price hike fine for Pfizer
PHARMA giant Pfizer has been fined a record £84.2million by the competition watchdog for its part in charging the NHS “excessive and unfair prices” for an anti-epilepsy drug.
Drugs distributor Flynn Pharma was also ordered to pay £5.2million after phenytoin sodium capsule prices were hiked overnight in 2012 by up to 2,600 per cent. Both companies will appeal.
NHS spending on the capsules, which treat about 48,000 UK patients, soared from about £2million in 2012 to £50million in 2013 after the amount it was charged for 100mg packs jumped from £2.83 to £67.50, before reducing to £54 from May 2014.
The Competition and Markets Authority said the NHS had no alternative to paying the higher charges because epilepsy patients already taking the capsules should not be switched to other products due to health risks. Before 2012, Pfizer sold phenytoin to UK wholesalers and pharmacies as Epanutin and the prices were regulated.
In September 2012, it sold the UK distribution rights for Epanutin to Flynn, which debranded the drug, so it was no longer subject to price regulation.
Pfizer has continued to make the capsules and sold them to Flynn at prices of between 780-1,600 per cent higher than before. Flynn sold on the products to wholesalers at 2,300-2,600 per cent higher prices than previously.
The CMA’s Philip Marsden, pictured, said: “The companies deliberately exploited the opportunity offered by debranding to hike up the price for a drug which is relied on by thousands. These extraordinary price rises have cost the NHS and the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.
“There is no justification for such rises when phenytoin sodium capsules are a very old drug for which there has been no recent innovation or significant investment.”
Pfizer said: “The CMA’s findings are wrong in fact and law and we will be appealing all aspects of the decision. The ruling highlights policy and legal issues concerning the respective roles of both the Department of Health and the CMA, in regulating the price of pharmaceutical products in the UK. Pfizer will seek clarity on these issues.”
Flynn said the CMA decision is “based on a flawed understanding of the UK pharmaceutical market. This has resulted in the CMA making a serious error which may have consequences on investment in, and availability of, generics.”