Drug pricing challenge
August 11, 2015
Britai n’s Competition and
Markets Authority (CMA) has
issued a statement of issues saying
Pfizer and Flynn Pharma possibly
breached UK and European law by
ramping up the cost of an epilepsy
drug used by over 50,000 patients.
The case relates to phenytoin
sodium capsules supplied by Pfizer
to Flynn Pharma, which in turn
distributes them to UK wholesalers
and pharmacies.
The “provisional view” of the
regulatory body was that Pfizer
and Flynn Pharma abused their
dominant market position by
charging “excessive and unfair”
prices for the medication.
Prior to Sep 2012 Pfizer sold
the drug under the brand name
Epanutin, but from that date Flynn
Pharma took over UK distribution
and “genericised” the drug - still
made by Pfizer, which charged Flynn
up to 17 times the previous price.
Flynn then in turn on-sold the
drug to customers at prices up
to 27 times higher than that
historically charged by Pfizer.
The state-run National Health
Service (NHS), which used to spend
around £2.3m on phenytoin sodium
capsules annually, saw its bill jump
to more than £50 million in 2013
and more than £40 million in 2014.
However the CMA said the
findings were “provisional” with
no conclusion able to be drawn on
whether the law had been broken.
“We will carefully consider any
representations from Pfizer and
Flynn Pharma,” the agency said,
with both firms saying they are
cooperating with the probe.
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