E-drug: Generic drug pricing fraud in the UK?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[E-druggers: you may consider news items from web sources
interesting and want to circulate them on E-drug. If so, please do
state the source and that you circulate them as "fair use". There
are copyright issues involved and we would not want to end up in
trouble here. HH]
Dear E-druggers,
See message below. How could this happen in the UK? Are UK
purchasing authorities seriously deficient in pharmaceutical
procurement? And how did this so called fraud come to light?
Regards,
Jonathan Harper
Dunasetany 5-7
Budapest
Hungary
----------------------------
Police swoop in NHS fraud inquiry
The investigation involves the price of antibiotics
Police are carrying out a major inquiry into a suspected conspiracy
to defraud the NHS by over-charging for generic drugs. The Serious
Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed that officers raided a number of
addresses in connection with the inquiry on Wednesday.
The SFO is investigating six companies suspected of defrauding the
NHS over prices charged for penicillin-based antibiotics and the
blood thinning drug warfarin between 1996 and 2000.
The companies are:
a. Generics UK Ltd, a unit of Merck
b. Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd
c. Regent-GM Laboratories Ltd
d. Goldshield Group Plc
e. Norton Healthcare Ltd
f. Ranbaxy Ltd
The only company to comment on the investigation so far is
Ranbaxy. Company spokesman Paresh Chaudhry said: "Ranbaxy
and its subsidiaries worldwide never break any laws in any country,
including our subsidiary in the UK, and we have nothing to fear or
hide." In a statement, the SFO said police had searched a number
of residential and business addresses in England, Scotland and
Wales as part of the investigation. Officers from the Metropolitan
Police Fraud Squad, National Crime Squad and Strathclyde Police
took part in the raids. The investigation is complex and is therefore
expected to continue for some time. They were backed up by
lawyers, financial investigators and forensic computer specialists
from the SFO. It said: "No arrests were made and no charges are
imminent". "The investigation is complex and is therefore expected
to continue for some time."
The case was referred to the SFO after initial inquiries carried out
by the Counter Fraud Directorate of the Department of Health, set
up by the UK government in 1998 to fight fraud within and against
the NHS. Warfarin is used to counter strokes and heart attacks.
--
To send a message to E-Drug, write to: e-drug@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe e-drug OR unsubscribe e-drug
To contact a person, send a message to: e-drug-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html