London: Britain’s competition regulator on Wednesday imposed a record 84.2 million pound ($106 million) fine on the pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer, and a 5.2 million pound ($6.55 million) fine on the distributor Flynn Pharma after finding that each broke competition law by charging excessive and unfair prices for an anti-epilepsy drug.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also ordered the companies to reduce their prices. The fines — the highest the CMA has imposed — follow prices increase by up to 2,600 per cent overnight after the drug was deliberately de-branded in September 2012, the CMA said.
Pfizer rejected the findings and said it would appeal against the decision, BBC reported.In order to ensure that there should be no risk to the ongoing supply of phenytoin sodium capsules to those patients who rely on it, the competition regulator has given Pfizer and Flynn between 30 working days and four months to reduce their respective prices. As a result of the price increases, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) expenditure on phenytoin sodium capsules increased from about 2 million pound ($2.52 million) a year in 2012 to about 50 million pound ($63 million) in 2013, the CMA noted.
The prices of the drug in Britain have also been many times higher than Pfizer’s prices for the same drug in any other European country, the regulator said.
Phenytoin sodium capsules are used in the treatment of epilepsy to prevent and control seizures, and are an important drug for an estimated 48,000 patients in Britain. Epilepsy patients who are already taking phenytoin sodium capsules should not usually be switched to other products, including another manufacturer’s version of the product, due to the risk of loss of seizure control which can have serious health consequences.
