General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Whups I shop at Marks for food every week. There's never been a shortage of anything food wise. As for the drug companies overcharging the NHS, it's ascandal that's been going on for years. It had nothing to do with Brexit.
The CMA found that Auden Mckenzie and its economic successor, Actavis UK (now known as Accord-UK), overcharged the National Health Service (NHS) for hydrocortisone tablets (used by tens of thousands of UK patients to treat adrenal insufficiency) between 2008 and 2018, exploiting the fact that de-branded drugs are not subject to NHS price regulation. During that time, the price of the tablets rose by over 10,000%, from less than GBP1 per 10mg pack for the original branded version to over GBP80. NHS spending on hydrocortisone tablets meanwhile rose from around GBP500,000 a year in 2008 to over GBP80m a year in 2016. Although prices fell gradually after competitors entered the market, Accord-UK continued to charge higher prices than its rivals.
The CMA also found that Auden Mckenzie and Accord-UK were able to raise prices so dramatically because they were the sole provider of the tablets during much of that period. Auden Mckenzie initially engineered this by entering into “pay-for-delay” agreements with two potentially competing generic manufacturers - AMCo (now Advanz Pharma) and Waymade. The generics agreed to stay out of the market between 2011 and 2015, in exchange for payments totalling GBP21m and GBP1.8m (respectively). After Accord-UK took over sales of hydrocortisone tablets from Auden Mckenzie in 2015 it continued making payments to Advanz Pharma.
The CMA imposed total fines of GBP266.4 million. Auden Mackenzie and Accord-UK were fined the lion’s share of this: GBP221.1m, of which:
Accord-UK is solely liable for GBP65.6m;
Allergan (the former parent company of Accord-UK) is solely liable for GBP109.1m;
Accord-UK and Allergan are jointly and severally liable for GBP2m; and
Accord Healthcare and Intas (both current parent companies of Accord-UK) are jointly and severally liable for GBP44.4m, along with Accord-UK.
The CMA has held Accord-UK liable for Auden Mckenzie’s conduct before it took over the business in 2015. Liability between Accord-UK’s former owner (Allergan) and its current owners (Accord Healthcare and Intas) has been attributed according to their respective ownership periods.
Fines were also imposed on the potential generic competitors – Advanz Pharma group (GBP42.8m) and Waymade (GBP2.5m) – for their parts in the pay-for-delay infringement.