Pfizer Accused of Overcharging for Epilepsy Seizure Drug by UK Competition Watchdog -- Update

   By Ian Walker and Cecilia Butini

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Thursday that it has provisionally found that Pfizer Inc. broke competition law by charging unfairly high prices for phenytoin sodium capsules, which are used to treat epileptic seizures.

The regulator said that over a four-year period Pfizer charged the U.K. National Health Service 780% to 1,600% more for the drug than it had previously. The company then sold the drug to another company--Flynn-- who sold it for between 2,300% and 2,600% more than before. This was possible because the companies de-branded the drug, which was known as Epanutin until September 2012, and, as a consequence, the treatment wasn't subject to price regulation in the same way as branded drugs, according to the authority.

"As Pfizer and Flynn were the dominant suppliers of the drug in the U.K., the NHS had no choice but to pay unfairly high prices for this vital medicine," the CMA said, explaining that the NHS went from spending 2 million pounds ($2.8 million) a year for the drug in 2012 to about GBP50 million in 2013.

The regulator said that both Pfizer and Flynn have the opportunity to respond to its provisional findings and that it will consider their representations before making a final decision on whether they broke the law.

The case started in 2016, when the companies were first fined by the CMA for breaking competition law. After a series of legal steps and appeals from the companies, the investigation was reopened in June 2020, according to the CMA.

Pfizer said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that it continues to cooperate fully with the CMA's continuing investigation. It added that the sustainable supply of products to U.K. patients was at the heart of its decision to divest the product in 2012.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 05, 2021 07:49 ET (11:49 GMT)

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