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15 August 2019Big PharmaSarah Morgan

NHS to receive £8m from Aspen over anti-competitive practices

Drugmaker Aspen has offered to pay the UK’s National Health System (NHS) £8 million ($9.7 million) to resolve competition concerns.

The payment, which forms part of a wider proposed package, follows an investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into suspected anti-competitive arrangements regarding the supply of fludrocortisone acetate 0.1 mg tablets.

Supplied only on prescription, fludrocortisone is mainly used to treat primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency, commonly known as Addison’s Disease.

In a release, published yesterday, August 14, the CMA said this was the first time it will secure such payment to the NHS in one of its pharmaceutical investigations.

The competition watchdog had been investigating arrangements that Aspen entered into with two rival pharmaceutical companies in 2016, as the CMA suspected Aspen had broken competition law by paying its competitors to stay out of the market.

South Africa-based Aspen’s arrangements left it as the sole supplier of fludrocortisone, with the ability to set prices without facing any competition, alleged the CMA.

Aspen recently approached the competition authority with a proposed package which includes compensation to the NHS and a fine of £2.1 million, if the CMA reaches a formal decision that the drugmaker broke the law.

The drugmaker has also admitted it was a party to an illegal, anti-competitive agreement, and committed to ensuring that there will be at least two suppliers of fludrocortisone in the UK.

Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s chief executive, said: “The CMA launched this investigation because we consider it unacceptable for the NHS—and the taxpayers who fund it—to have to pay millions of pounds more than they should for this life-saving drug.”

Coscelli added that the £8 million will save the NHS the time and expense of seeking damages in court.

“We welcome Aspen approaching us to find a new way of addressing the CMA’s concerns. We believe this resolution will benefit the NHS, patients and taxpayers,” he concluded.

The CMA will continue to investigate the two other companies it suspects illegally participated in this arrangement.

There are currently other unrelated investigations open in relation to six other pharmaceutical drugs.

In May, the competition authority accused four pharmaceutical companies of agreeing not to compete for the supply of an anti-nausea tablet to the NHS.

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More on this story

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24 May 2019   Four pharmaceutical companies allegedly agreed not to compete for the supply of an anti-nausea tablet to the National Health Service, according to objections filed by the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
Big Pharma
9 October 2019   African drugmaker Aspen was able to increase its prices for fludrocortisone acetate tablets by 1,800% in the UK, as a result of collusion with two other firms, according to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
Big Pharma
12 March 2020   The UK Competition and Markets Authority has welcomed a Court of Appeal ruling allowing it to press ahead with cases against Pfizer and Flynn Pharma over the unfair pricing of an epilepsy treatment.

More on this story

Big Pharma
24 May 2019   Four pharmaceutical companies allegedly agreed not to compete for the supply of an anti-nausea tablet to the National Health Service, according to objections filed by the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
Big Pharma
9 October 2019   African drugmaker Aspen was able to increase its prices for fludrocortisone acetate tablets by 1,800% in the UK, as a result of collusion with two other firms, according to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
Big Pharma
12 March 2020   The UK Competition and Markets Authority has welcomed a Court of Appeal ruling allowing it to press ahead with cases against Pfizer and Flynn Pharma over the unfair pricing of an epilepsy treatment.