The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7395 p408
8 April 2006

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Pharmacists charged in price-fixing case

Pharmacists working as directors of Goldshield Group Plc were due to be charged with conspiracy to defraud the NHS this week following a four-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. In a statement, the SFO confirmed that criminal proceedings are being brought against nine individuals and five companies. The announcement follows an investigation into the activities of several suppliers suspected of conspiring to defraud the NHS through prices charged for penicillin-based antibiotics and warfarin between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2000.

The pharmacists are Ajit Ramanlal Patel and Kirti Vinubhai Patel. Other individuals due to be charged are Denis William O’Neill and John Stephen Clark, of Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Jonathan Raymond Close and Nicholas Mark Foster, formerly of Norton Healthcare Ltd, Luma Auchi, formerly of Regent-GM Laboratories Ltd, Michael John Frederick Sparrow, formerly of Generics (UK) Ltd and Anil Kumar Sharma, formerly of Ranbaxy (UK) Ltd. The SFO would not say whether any of these individuals were pharmacists.

Summonses have also been issued upon Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Norton Healthcare Ltd, Generics (UK) Ltd, Ranbaxy (UK) Ltd and Goldshield Group Plc.

SFO assistant director Philip Lewis said: “This important case involving an allegation of dishonest price fixing by companies is likely to have a significant impact upon the business culture of this country.”

In a separate statement, the Department of Health announced that Norton Healthcare Ltd, Norton Pharmaceuticals Ltd and the DoH have settled civil claims brought against Norton for alleged anti-competitive cartel conduct in connection with the supply of generic drugs to the NHS.

Under the terms of the settlement Norton has agreed to compensate the NHS by paying £13.5m and to co-operate in connection with the continuing claims regarding the alleged price-fixing arrangements.

Jim Gee, director of counter fraud services at the DoH, said: “Norton is the third of the defendant companies to have recognised the strength of the claim made by the NHS and to have decided to act in the public interest.”