약가 결정 구조에 대한 투쟁에서 참조할 수 있지 않을까 해서요.
번역은 힘겨워… 생략합니다.
그간 보험공단에서 제약에 보상된 것 중
이런 것을 잡아 청구하는 것이 가능하다면
좋은 투쟁 매개가 되지 않을가 합니다만….
NHS seeks £100m from ‘price fixing’ drug giants
Two companies accused of running ulcer remedy cartel
John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday June 23, 2004
The Guardian
The NHS fraud squad launched its biggest claim for compensation from pharmaceutical companies yesterday after the discovery of an alleged price-fixing cartel that ran from 1997 to 2000.
It applied to the high court to recover at least £100m which it says was lost to the NHS through overcharging by two companies for the supply of the ulcer drug ranitidine.
The action, in the name of John Reid, the health secretary, and 28 strategic health authorities in England, has been taken against Generics UK Ltd, a subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical giant Merck, and Ranbaxy UK Ltd, the British arm of the Indian generic drug manufacturer Ranbaxy.
Jim Gee, chief executive of the NHS’s counter-fraud service, said the overcharging was the most serious case so far of unlawful price-fixing by a pharmaceutical cartel.
It deprived the NHS of “at least £100m, and probably £110m”, enough to pay for 24,000 hip replacements or 160,000 cataract removal operations.
Mr Gee said: “We would not be taking this action unless we were very confident of the case we are putting forward. Unless we protect the NHS’s resources, the NHS will not be able to protect the public’s health in the way it should.
“We believe unlawful behaviour took place in the middle to late 1990s. The evidence that has been uncovered is that it lasted up to 2000, but we are looking at the position in respect of 30 other drugs. Whatever we find, we will act on.”
Ranitidine was a generic drug that was commonly prescribed for the treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers. It came on to the market when patents for the branded drug Zantac expired. The NHS expected the prices to fall fast when generic drugs became available, but this did not happen with ranitidine.
Papers submitted by the counter-fraud service to the court yesterday said Mr Reid and the health authorities would claim “for damages and interest to compensate them for loss caused to them by arrangements between the defendants adversely affecting competition in the sale and supply of ranitidine in the UK between 1997 and 2000″.
In December 2002, the NHS launched a similar civil action against six other pharmaceutical companies for alleged price-fixing of the drug warfarin. In December last year it also brought proceedings against an alleged cartel of seven firms, including Generics UK and Ranbaxy UK, for keeping up the price of penicillin.
In each case it relied on information it requested from the Serious Fraud Office, which raided the homes and offices of senior drug company executives during Easter 2002.
The Serious Fraud Office is expected to decide whether there should be any criminal prosecutions.
The civil cases on the supply of warfarin and penicillin have not yet been heard.
The counter-fraud service did not release detailed allegations on the ranitidine case.
However, it filed papers for the penicillin case in the high court in December purporting to give documentary evidence that the accused companies restricted supplies to the NHS.
The papers suggested that this included an agreement on what excuses would be given for stock shortages, and a system of penalties on any company breaching alleged secret cartel production quotas.
Neither of the companies had anyone available to comment last night.