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from the that's-another-fine-mess-you've-gotten-into dept.
Reuters reports on a record 84 million pound fine (about $107 million) for its role in raising the cost of a generic epilepsy drug by up to 2600%:
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also fined Flynn Pharma 5.2 million pounds for overcharging for phenytoin sodium capsules, following a dramatic price hike in 2012. The CMA's ruling comes amid a growing debate on both sides of the Atlantic about the ethics of price hikes for old off-patent medicines that are only made by a few firms and where there is little competition. U.S. drugmaker Turing Pharmaceuticals, led at the time by hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, caused outrage last year by raising the U.S. price of Daraprim, an old anti-infective drug, by more than 5,000 percent to $750 a pill.
[...] Pfizer used to market the medicine under the brand name Epanutin but sold the rights to Flynn, a privately owned British company, in September 2012. It was then debranded, meaning that it was no longer subject to price regulation, and the price soared. "The companies deliberately exploited the opportunity offered by debranding to hike up the price for a drug which is relied upon by many thousands of patients," Philip Marsden, chairman of the CMA's case decision group, said on Wednesday. "This is the highest fine the CMA has imposed and it sends out a clear message to the sector that we are determined to crack down on such behavior."
So, ironically, by turning the drug into a "generic" under UK regulations, they were able to jack the price up to extreme levels. Pfizer plans to appeal the ruling. The Guardian has further details:
Pfizer defended its actions, saying the drugs were loss-making before they were debranded and distributed through Flynn Pharma. It also argued that the price was less than that of the equivalent medicine from another supplier to the NHS.
A spokesman for the CMA said Pfizer recouped its losses on the medication within two months, adding that the price of other drugs did not permit the companies fined to charge "excessive and unfair prices".
One thing I wonder about such fines is whether they can possibly be effective. Even if they manage to hurt a pharmaceutical company's bottom line in the UK a bit, without some sort of international standard regulation of drug pricing, won't they just pass any costs of litigation onto consumers in the U.S. or somewhere else by hiking the price on this or other drugs even more?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 09 2016, @04:19PM
What they should do is jack up the prices for all drugs 1,000,000% for Africa and the Middle East, and lower the prices for everybody else.
Win-win, we get cheaper drugs and more planetary dead-weight dies off.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09 2016, @05:33PM
Don't forget all those dirty gandhis, gooks and white niggers in russia. That whole african-asiatic area is a fucking toilet in need of a flushing.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09 2016, @05:52PM
And you are contributing to humanity oh so greatly, aren't you. Piss off.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday December 09 2016, @06:15PM
This one wasn't up to your usual standards, low as that bar is. It's not obvious you're trolling; now it just sounds like you're another refugee from /pol/. You may want to change up your material a bit.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday December 09 2016, @11:06PM
I agree. I usually envision him standing in full Nazi uniforms shouting with his fist held high. Today, it was as if he was in dirty underwear, on a couch, eating Cheetos, while just phoning it in.
Like you, I demand my bigotry and fascism to have some panache ;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday December 10 2016, @03:55AM
Funny, I usually envision him in Cheetos-eatbeast mode. Today was more like "woke up three hours later, had to shit, shit the bed, threw it at my computer screen, went back to sleep."
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:38AM
Guess you didn't notice, EF's guy [soylentnews.org] won the U.S. election. EF can ride the gravy train until 2025. That Mexican pussy [soylentnews.org] is gonna dry up though.