Allergan on the hook for $160M for hydrocortisone ‘abuse of dominance,’ UK court rules

A UK com­pe­ti­tion tri­bunal has up­held fines worth hun­dreds of mil­lions of pounds against Al­ler­gan in a broad­er probe in­to its af­fil­i­ates for over­charg­ing the Na­tion­al Health Ser­vice (NHS) for hy­dro­cor­ti­sone tablets.

The UK’s Com­pe­ti­tion and Mar­kets Au­thor­i­ty (CMA) pro­posed a fine of £155.2 mil­lion ($192.4 mil­lion) for Al­ler­gan’s abuse of dom­i­nance, but the tri­bunal shaved off around £26 mil­lion ($32.2 mil­lion). This was be­cause Al­ler­gan — for­mer par­ent of Ac­tavis UK — couldn’t be held re­spon­si­ble for Ac­tavis due to “hold sep­a­rate” com­mit­ments.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.