Why are NHS drug prices so high?
Drug companies are due to be investigated after “excessive prices”, according to a study which comes after claims that 32 NHS drugs have risen by more than 1,000 per cent over the past five years.
An inquiry has been launched by The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) due to suspected breaches of competition law by pharmaceutical firms.
These companies can be fined up to 10 per cent of their total turnover if they’ve broken the law.
The health secretary Jeremy Hunt called CMA after an investigation by The Times suggested companies were exploiting a loophole in NHS rules to raise prices of medicines.
The paper claimed that these alleged companies were able to charge extremely high prices because they faced limited competition on long-established, off-patent drugs, bought from large pharmaceutical firms.
Concordia revealed that it’s one of the companies being investigated.
A spokesman said: “We are working co-operatively to better understand the CMA’s position and we will continue to work constructively to resolve the matter.
“Although Concordia has also had past discussions with the CMA regarding the supply of certain of its products in the UK, this is the first interaction with the CMA regarding the company’s pricing.”
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