CMA alleges anti-competitive agreements for hydrocortisone tablets

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today alleged that Concordia and Actavis UK signed illegal agreements which enabled high prices for a life-saving drug to be prolonged.

The CMA alleges that between January 2013 and June 2016, Concordia (formerly Amdipharm), and Actavis UK (formerly Auden Mckenzie, and now owned by India’s Intas), entered into agreements under which Actavis UK incentivized Concordia not to enter the market with its own competing version of hydrocortisone tablets.

In a statement of objections issued to the parties today, the CMA provisionally finds that both companies broke competition law by reaching these anti-competitive agreements, and it also alleges that Actavis UK abused its dominant position by inducing Concordia to delay its independent entry into the market.