U.K. Disqualifies Pharma Executive for Price-Fixing of Drug

(Bloomberg) -- A former director of a British drug distributor was banned from leadership posts at any U.K. company for five years over his role in the price-fixing of an antidepressant, regulators said.

Amit Patel held roles with Auden McKenzie Ltd. and Amilco Ltd. A probe by the Competition and Markets Authority into the supply of an antidepressant, nortriptyline, found Auden and another company took action that probably inflated prices paid by the country's national health system.

As part of another probe, Patel admitted that in 2016, Amilco and another company stayed out of the market for the Addison's Disease treatment, fludrocortisone, enabling Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. to maintain its position as sole supplier, the regulator said Thursday.

“The CMA has alleged that this illegal agreement protected Aspen's monopoly, giving it an opportunity to increase prices charged to the NHS by up to 1800%,” it said in a statement.

Patel said that, in exchange for staying out of the market, Amilco received a 30% share of the increased prices that Aspen was able to charge, the CMA said.

Aspen said it has entered commitments with the CMA, including offering to pay the NHS 8 million pounds ($10 million) to settle the claims last year. It declined to comment further on the case.

Patel didn't immediately respond to a message sent to his LinkedIn account.

The regulator began using its power to disqualify directors in December 2016. So far it's disqualified 16 directors whose companies have broken competition law.

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