CMA says second firm admits collusion on essential drug price hike

23 January 2020

Netherlands-based drugmaker Tiofarma has admitted that it took part in an agreement that resulted in significant price hikes in the UK for an essential medicine.

This means that two of the three companies under investigation by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have now admitted to an allegation that they illegally took part in an anti-competitive agreement.

The CMA has alleged, and provisionally found, that the agreement between the local unit of South Africa’s largest drugmaker Aspen (JSE: JPN), Tiofarma and UK-based Amilco contributed to the price of fludrocortisone acetate tablets supplied to the National Health Service (NHS) increasing by up to 1,800%. Fludrocortisone is a life-saving medicine that thousands of patients rely on to treat adrenal insufficiency, commonly known as Addison’s disease.

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