Pharma companies cleared of price-fixing of drugs in UK
Sunday, 13 July 2008
LONDON, July 12 (PTI): Pharmaceuticals major Goldshield, founded by Indian-origin entrepreneur Mr Ajit Patel is among five companies that have been cleared of fixing prices of drugs, after more than six years of investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Justice Mr Pitchford at Southwark Crown Court Friday cleared the companies of an alleged conspiracy to defraud the National Health Service (NHS) by fixing prices of some common drugs, penicillin-based antibiotics, and the blood-thinning drug warfarin.
The companies cleared of the charge were the Goldshield Group, Kent Pharmaceuticals, Norton Healthcare, Generics (UK), and Ranbaxy (UK). Because the allegations refer to the period 1996-2001, they pre-date the Enterprise Act 2002, which makes price fixi ng a specific offence.
The charges were instead brought under the common law offence of conspiracy to defraud. But Justice Mr Pitchford ruled on the basis of a recent ruling of the House of Lords that price fixing did not amount to conspiracy to defraud at the time the investigation was started.
He said the SFO had got the law wrong.
SFO's lawyers had accused the companies and individuals of "costing the taxpayer millions of pounds", but the judge ruled that the SFO brought a prosecution on the basis of a defective and misconceived assumption.
Justice Mr Pitchford at Southwark Crown Court Friday cleared the companies of an alleged conspiracy to defraud the National Health Service (NHS) by fixing prices of some common drugs, penicillin-based antibiotics, and the blood-thinning drug warfarin.
The companies cleared of the charge were the Goldshield Group, Kent Pharmaceuticals, Norton Healthcare, Generics (UK), and Ranbaxy (UK). Because the allegations refer to the period 1996-2001, they pre-date the Enterprise Act 2002, which makes price fixi ng a specific offence.
The charges were instead brought under the common law offence of conspiracy to defraud. But Justice Mr Pitchford ruled on the basis of a recent ruling of the House of Lords that price fixing did not amount to conspiracy to defraud at the time the investigation was started.
He said the SFO had got the law wrong.
SFO's lawyers had accused the companies and individuals of "costing the taxpayer millions of pounds", but the judge ruled that the SFO brought a prosecution on the basis of a defective and misconceived assumption.