No punishment for Merck & Co for UK Remicade practices

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has closed its investigation into a questionable discount scheme introduced to the National Health Service (NHS) by American pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK).

This case relates to Remicade (infliximab), a rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease drug belonging to Janssen but marketed in the UK by Merck a Co, which is known as MSD outside North America.

After the patent for Remicade expired in 2015, Merck & Co developed a discount scheme to encourage the NHS to continue purchasing the original drug, rather than competitors’ cheaper biosimilars.