In a stern warning to the pharmaceutical industry, the UK antitrust regulator has fined Pfizer and a generic drug maker a record $113 million combined penalty for price gouging, which caused the National Health Service to unnecessarily pay “excessive” prices for an epilepsy medicine. Pfizer’s share is roughly $106 million.
The move caps a heated, three-year investigation into pricing maneuvers undertaken by the big drug maker and Flynn Pharma, the generic company, which were accused by the UK Competition and Markets Authority of deliberately exploiting their dominant market positions by jacking up the price of their epilepsy pills. Earlier this year, Pfizer was fined $14,000 for violating procedural rules in connection with the probe.
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