Actavis UK accused of overcharging NHS

Pharmaceutical company Actavis UK has reportedly broken competition law by charging excessive prices to the NHS for hydrocortisone tablets.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has revealed that the company has increased the price of 10mg hydrocortisone tablets by over 12,000 per cent compared to the branded version of the drug which was sold by a different company prior to April 2008.

Formerly Auden Mckenzie, the company charged the NHS £0.70 in April 2008 for 10mg packs of the drug, before rising the price to £88.00 per pack by March 2016.

Prior to April 2008, the NHS spent approximately £522,000 a year on hydrocortisone tablets. By 2015, NHS spend on the tablets had risen to £70 million a year.

The pack of 20mg hydrocortisone tablets also saw a monument price hike, costing the NHS £102.74 per pack by March 2016, compared to the previous cost of £1.07 for the branded drug.

Hydrocortisone tablets are used as the primary replacement therapy for people whose adrenal glands do not produce sufficient amounts of natural steroid hormones. This is most commonly seen in Addison’s disease, which is life threatening.

Approximately 943,000 packs were dispensed for hydrocortisone tablets in the UK in 2015.

Andrew Groves, CMA senior responsible officer, said: “This is a lifesaving drug relied on by thousands of patients, which the NHS has no choice but to continue purchasing. We allege that the company has taken advantage of this situation and the removal of the drug from price regulation, leaving the NHS – and ultimately the taxpayer – footing the bill for the substantial price rises.

“The CMA’s findings are provisional and no conclusion should be drawn at this stage that there has in fact been any breach of competition law. The CMA will carefully consider any representations of the parties under investigation before determining whether the law has been infringed.”

Separately, Reckitt Benckiser, the UK manufacturer of Nurofen, has been hit with an increased fine of £3.6 million for misleading customers in Australia, after being fined in April for marketing identical products for differently targeted audiences.

The company said: "Nurofen did not intend to mislead consumers, however we recognise that we could have done more to assist our consumers in navigating the Nurofen Specific Pain Range."