Recently the U.S. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer is being fined $106 million for raising the prices of anti-epilepsy medication a record of 2,600%. According to British regulator Competition and Markets Authority, the New York-based company overcharged patients for phenytoin sodium capsules, a drug that had been de-banded around September 2012.
Although Pfizer said that it’s going to appeal the fine, the price of the epilepsy drug capsules skyrocketed from $3.75 for 100 milligrams to $85.06. Even though the price was ultimately dropped to around $68 in May. This caused prices for the National Health Care Service in Britain to rise to $2 million in 2012 and $63 million in 2013.
Pfizer claims that the drug was a “loss” for the CMA, but the company disagrees. Chairman of the CMA, Philip Marsden, said in a statement, “Businesses are generally free to set prices as they see fit but those holding a dominant position should not abuse this situation and set prices that are excessive and unfair.” The regulator even went as far as to give Pfizer up to four months to change the prices on the sodium capsules.
Pfizer isn’t the only company under investigation for the recent spike in pharmaceutical drug prices. Mylan’s prices for EpiPen, a medication used by patients to reduce allergic reactions, rose from $100 to $600 for a two-pack. Pfizer did, however, say in a statement that they felt the fine “highlights real policy and legal issues concerning the respective roles of both the Department of Health and the CMA, in regulating the price of pharmaceutical products in the U.K.”
