Pfizer fined £63m after overcharging NHS for phenytoin sodium epilepsy drug

Pfizer has been fined £63 million after overcharging the NHS for a life-saving epilepsy drug which rose in price by 2,600%.

The drug company was fined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for its involvement in a secret deal to hike the price of phenytoin sodium capsules, which cost the NHS tens of millions of pounds.

Pfizer and a small British company, Flynn Pharma, were able to circumvent NHS price controls by de-branding the drug in 2012 and relaunching it under its generic name. The price then rose from £2.83 to £67.50 per pack, pushing up the cost from £2 million a year to £50 million.

Internal emails obtained by the CMA showed that Pfizer officials raised concerns about the proposed scheme, with one manager writing: “The top line looks great, however, this would increase the price of phenytoin capsules to the NHS drastically and, to be frank, doesn’t feel right.”

Andrea Coscelli, the outgoing chief executive of the CMA, said phenytoin was an “essential drug relied on daily by thousands of people throughout the UK to prevent life-threatening epileptic seizures”.

He said the two companies had “illegally exploited their dominant positions to charge the NHS excessive prices and make more money for themselves — meaning patients and taxpayers lost out”.

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Source: The Times, 21 July 2022