Taxpayer ‘ripped off by £100m’
WATCHDOGS have accused a Canadian drugs firm of overcharging the NHS £100million in the past decade for a life-changing treatment.
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said Concordia International hiked the price of a thyroid drug by nearly 6000 per cent in a provisional finding released yesterday.
Concordia join a growing list of pharmaceutical giants accused of unfairly increasing the price of NHS drugs.
CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: “Pharmaceutical companies who abuse their position and overcharge for drugs are forcing the NHS – and the UK taxpayer – to pay over the odds for important medical treatments.
“We allege that Concordia used their market dominance in the supply of liothyronine tablets to do exactly that.”
The tablets are primarily used to treat hypothyroidism, a condition caused by a deficiency of the thyroid WITH TRICIA PHILLIPS MOTORISTS hope the Chancellor doesn’t hike Insurance Premium Tax in his Budget later today. It has already doubled to 12 per hormone affecting at least one in 50 people and which can lead to depression, tiredness and weight gain. The CMA said the NHS spent more than £34million on the firm’s liothyronine drug last year, up from around £600,000 in 2006. The amount they paid per pack rose from about £4.46 in 2007 to £258.19 by July 2017, an increase of 6000 per cent. Concordia hit back, saying: “We do not believe that competition law has been infringed. “The pricing of liothyronine has been conducted openly and transparently with the Department of Health in the UK over a period of 10 years.” Last year, the CMA fined drugs giants Pfizer a record £84million for ripping off the NHS after a 2600 per cent hike in the price of pills relied on by epilepsy sufferers. They also fined several pharmaceutical companies a total of £45million in relation to anti-depressant medicine paroxetine. Both rulings are being appealed. cent in the past two years and has pushed premiums to an average £690.
Research from insurers Cuvva shows since 2000 car insurance costs have soared three times faster than wages at 177 per cent.
CEO Freddy Macnamara said: “Rising costs are making driving unaffordable. In the last year, we’ve seen the number of incidents involving uninsured drivers rise for the first time in a decade and it’s no coincidence that this follows huge increases to annual premiums.”
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