Britain’s Department of Health accused three pharmaceutical companies on Monday of fixing the price of a blood-thinning drug and said it would sue them.
A department representative said the public National Health Service had been overcharged 28-million pounds ($44,5-million) for warfarin and was seeking that amount plus interest from the companies.
The representative said on condition of anonymity that London-based Goldshield Group PLC, Regent-GM Laboratories – part of Luxembourg-based General Mediterranean Holdings – and Norton Healthcare Ltd., part of Miami-based Ivax Corp., had agreed to restrict supplies of the drug and fix its price between 1996 and 2000.
Twenty-eight local health authorities were joining the health department in the suit.
Goldshield said it did not believe it had acted in an anti-competitive or improper way and that it would defend itself vigorously. An Ivax representative said Norton had followed all laws and regulations. A Regent-GM representative could not immediately be reached for comment. – Sapa-AP