The Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom (“CMA”), which has carried out many investigations and imposed fines regarding the pharmaceutical sector in recent years, has announced[2] on 3 February 2022 on its website that five firms have been fined around £35 million (around $47 million) for restricting the competition by delaying the launch of a prescribed product named “prochlorperpazine”, which is used to treat nausea.
In the announcement, it has been stated that Alliance Pharmaceuticals appointed Focus as its distributor; and in return, Lexon and Medreich were paid a share of the profits that Focus earned in return for delaying the launch of the product that they developed jointly as per the agreement. CMA has also determined that Medreich did not supply commercial volumes of the product during the period of the infringement, although it first obtained a license to supply prochlorperazine in January 2014. In CMA’s statement, it has also been underlined that payments made by the National Health System (“NHS”) rose by 700 % from December 2013 to December 2017, and payments made by NHS between 2014 and 2018 jumped from £2.7 million to £7.5 million Pounds, even though the number of packs dispensed fell.
As a result of the infringement finding, the CMA has imposed fines of £35 million in total; £7.9 million for Alliance Pharmaceuticals, a £7.3 million fine for Lexon, a £4.6 million penalty for Medreich and £15.5 million for Focus. Focus’ current owner Advanz and previous parent Caven are jointly and severally liable for the fine.
[2] You can access the full text of the announcement from the link below: