The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has fined four drugmakers over £266 million for increasing the price of hydrocortisone tablets by over 10,000%. The NHS saw expenditure on these tablets rocket from £500,000 per year to £80 million by 2016.

The investigation also found that these companies would pay off potential rivals to keep their competing medication off the market.

Sophie Lawrance comments on how this is now the leading case on excessive pricing and also shares her thoughts on the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, as well as the “pay-for-delay” element of the case.

To read the full article, see the GCR website.