A private equity owned drugmaker is under investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog after its threats to withdraw one of its bipolar medicines triggered a fierce backlash from doctors over access and pricing, reported the Financial Times.
Essential Pharma, which was bought out by Swiss private equity firm Gyrus Capital in January, planned to pull lithium-based medicine priadel from the market in April 2021, pushing thousands of patients with bipolar disorder towards the company’s more costly drug.
The company on Tuesday, October 6, stated it had failed to agree a “sustainable price” for lossmaking priadel with the Department of Health but would continue to supply the drug after the Competition and Markets Authority announced its probe.
At least one in a 100 people in the UK are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and of those 20% take lithium tablets. Essential Pharma makes two of the three lithium carbonate medicines used to treat bipolar disorder in England.
Priadel costs £4.02 (US$5.18) for a pack of 100 400mg pills while the cost of Essential Pharma’s lithium-based alternative camcolit is £48.18(US$62.07). The company’s most expensive lithium carbonate tablet costs £87(US$112.08) for 100 250mg pills.
Featured News
College Sports Leaders in Intensive Talks to Settle NIL Antitrust Case Against NCAA
Apr 30, 2024 by
CPI
EU Investigates Facebook’s and Instagram’s Handling of Disinformation Ahead of Elections
Apr 30, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Lawsuit Targets Hotel Giants for Alleged Price Fixing with AI
Apr 30, 2024 by
CPI
ABA Seeks to Join FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon Over Antitrust Concerns
Apr 30, 2024 by
CPI
Google Agrees to Pay News Corp for AI-Related Content
Apr 30, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI