NHS overcharged millions of pounds for thyroid drug

The NHS has been overcharged millions of pounds for a life changing thyroid drug by Canadian company Concordia, Britain’s competition watchdog has found.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it found that Concordia had ‘abused its dominant position to overcharge the NHS’ by hiking up the price of liothyronine by 6,000 per cent in 10 years.

The regulator, who has been investigating how much the pharmaceutical company was charging for liothyronine tablets, used to treat patients with an underactive thyroid, found that the NHS spent more than £34 million on the drug last year - up from around £600,000 in 2006. The amount it paid per pack rose from £4.46 in 2007 to £258.19 by July 2017. Production costs remained mostly stable during that period.

Concordia could be fined up to 10 per cent of its worldwide annual turnover.

Concordia was the only supplier of liothyronine tablets up until earlier this year.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of The Competition and Markets Authority, said: “Pharmaceutical companies which abuse their position and overcharge for drugs are forcing the NHS – and the UK taxpayer – to pay over the odds for important medical treatments.

“We allege that Concordia used its market dominance in the supply of liothyronine tablets to do exactly that.

“At this stage in the investigation, our findings are provisional and there has been no definitive decision that there has been a breach of competition law. We will carefully consider any representations from the companies before deciding whether the law has in fact been broken.”