BRITAIN'S Competition and Markets Authority has issued a warning to drugmakers about using "anticompetitive discount schemes," but found there were no grounds for action following a probe of discounts offfered by MSD for its Remicade (infliximab).
The regulator launched an inveetigation into discounts offered by MSD in 2015 after the drug's patent expired, saying the scheme "was in breach of competition law" but finding further evidence the move was "not, in practice, likely to limit competition from others".
A biosimilar version of Remicade was launched in the UK the day after the drug's patent expired.
The CMA said MSD's discount program could have potentially delayed significant NHS savings on Remicade, which at the time was costing the scheme 100m annually.
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