Pfizer slammed by UK regulator after 2000% increase in NHS epilepsy bill

UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accused drugmakers Pfizer and Flynn Pharma of abusing their dominant position in the market by charging excessive prices for phenytoin sodium capsules used to treat epilepsy.

CMA Antitrust Enforcement senior director Ann Pope said: “While businesses are generally free to set prices as they see fit, those that hold a dominant position have a special responsibility to ensure that their conduct does not impair genuine competition and that their prices are not excessive and unfair”.

The CMA notes that before September 2012 the NHS spent £2.3 million on phenytoin sodium capsules, but this has risen to £50 million in 2013 and £40 million in 2014.

Before September 2012, Pfizer manufactured and sold phenytoin sodium capsules in the UK under the brand name Epanutin.

It claims that Pfizer continued to manufacture the drug, hiking the wholesale price to between 8 and 17 times its previous UK rate. The bill fell slightly the next year, to just over GBP40 million.

The Simply.S. people utilized current market the drugs itself, as Epanutin, but distributed the… “As I have said before, if we are to do the best we can for patients we must leave no stone unturned in our collective efforts to make the money we have go as far as possible”. It has called upon both firms to submit evidence forthwith.

Pfizer said is was co-operating with the CMA investigation and that the objections published on Thursday were only provisional findings.

Pfizer said selling the medicine to Flynn had made it profitable and ensured there would be a sustainable supply, which was of “paramount importance”.

Flynn Pharma, based in Stevenage, was not immediately available to comment.

If the companies are found to have breached the law, the CMA has the power to fine then up to 10pc of their global annual turnover – last year Pfizer had revenue of nearly $50bn.

Phenytoin sodium capsules are used in the treatment of epilepsy in order to prevent and control seizures and are an important drug for over 50,000 patients in the UK.