The Capitalist Cheaters

Drug company Concordia overcharged the NHS by millions for a key thyroid treatment, the Competition and Markets Authority has provisionally found. The CMA said that last year the NHS spent £34m on its drug, liothyronine, up from about £600,000 in 2006.

The amount the NHS paid per pack rose from around £4.46 in 2007 to £258.19 by July 2017, an increase of almost 6,000%. The price of a single pill went up from 16p to £9.22. The price rise took place despite "broadly stable" production costs.

CMA chief executive, Andrea Coscelli, said: "Pharmaceutical companies which abuse their position and overcharge for drugs are forcing the NHS - and the UK taxpayer - to pay over the odds for important medical treatments. We allege that Concordia used its market dominance in the supply of liothyronine tablets to do exactly that."

The CMA has fined drugs giant Pfizer and Flynn Pharma nearly £90m in relation to what it called "excessive and unfair prices" for the anti-epilepsy treatment, phenytoin sodium capsules. It also fined a number of pharmaceutical companies a total of £45m in relation to anti-depressant medicine paroxetine. The CMA is pursuing another seven investigations into several companies in relation to drug pricing and competition issues.

Liothyronine tablets are primarily used to treat hypothyroidism, a condition caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormone affecting at least two in every 100 people and which can lead to depression, tiredness and weight gain. Until earlier this year, Concordia was the only supplier of the drug.