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UK: Pfizer gets record fine for drug price hike

By  |  December 11, 2016

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been told to pay a record ￡84.2 million by the British competition watchdog after they hiked up the price of an epilepsy drug by 2,600 per cent.

In 2012, the price of a 100mg packet of the capsules went from ￡2.83 to ￡67.50.

Annual spending on the drugs by the NHS rose from ￡2 million to about ￡50 million.

US drugmaker Pfizer used to market the medicine under the brand name Epanutin.

But it sold the rights to Flynn, a privately owned British company, in September 2012. It was then debranded, so was no longer subject to price regulation.

Pfizer said the medicine had been losing money so it was forced to consider whether it could continue supplying it.

Pfizer and Flynn, fined ￡5.2 million, plan to appeal.

Full Content: The Straits Times

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