The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7243 p467
5 April 2003

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Genzyme (www.genzyme.com)

OFT fines Genzyme

Genzyme Ltd has been fined £6.8m by the Office of Fair Trading for setting a price for Cerezyme (imiglucerase) that made competition from other suppliers impossible.

The OFT ruled that Genzyme's behaviour breached the Competition Act 1998 because its price to the National Health Service included home delivery and home care services, so ensuring that only the company or its own contractors could provide such services. The OFT also ruled that Genzyme charged third party home care providers a price that allowed them no possible margin.

As well as imposing the fine, the OFT has told Genzyme that it must sell Cerezyme to the NHS at a stand-alone price and must supply it to third parties at a price agreed by the Department of Health.

Cerezyme is used to treat Gaucher's disease, which affects only about 300 people in Britain and 40,000 world wide.

Genzyme is to appeal against the ruling to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Malcolm Johnson, Genzyme's general manager said: "We believe that the OFT is not acting in the best interests of patients and has fundamentally misunderstood the markets for drugs that treat ultra-orphan diseases and the sophisticated home care services associated with those drugs."