THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has concluded its investigation into GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), finding it has made "ambiguous but not misleading statements" linking a price increase of its Panadol Osteo products to their Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) delisting.
The ACCC said it had "some significant concerns about the ambiguity of GSK's statement" but considered that "the evidence available is unlikely to establish a contravention of the Australian Consumer Law".
"There can be a fine line between an ambiguous statement and a misleading one," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
In Dec 2015, GSK sent letters to wholesalers and pharmacies referring to the Government announcement that most OTC medicines, including Panadol Osteo, would no longer be available on the PBS from 01 Jan, 2016.
"In moving to an OTC business model, GlaxoSmithKline is no longer able to sustain its current pricing of Panadol Osteo...as such, there will be a price increase on Panadol Osteo from 01 Jan 2016."
Sims commented, "Where price increases are attributable to a number of factors, businesses need to be careful in linking one factor, such as a change to Government policy, to an increase in prices so as not to mislead consumers".
The ACCC found the delisting from the PBS resulted in some modest indirect costs to GSK, but was only one of a number of reasons for the price increase.
"Other contributing factors included the entrance into the market of generic paracetamol 665mg products and the effect this had on sales of Panadol Osteo," Sims added.
"There were no direct regulatory costs to GSK arising from the delisting of Panadol Osteo from the PBS," he concluded.
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