The Court of Appeal has upheld findings that pharmaceutical companies engaged in illegal, excessive pricing for hydrocortisone tablets over a decade. The judgment confirms that firms including Auden Mckenzie and Actavis UK abused their market power, artificially inflating the cost of a vital medicine relied upon by tens of thousands of patients with severe conditions like Addison’s disease.
The case traces back to 2007, when hydrocortisone tablets cost the National Health Service less than £1 per pack, leading to an annual expenditure of approximately £500,000. After acquiring the licences, Auden Mckenzie de-branded the medication to bypass price regulations and steadily increased rates. By 2016, prices reached over £70 per pack, causing NHS spending on the drug to surge past £80 million annually. The Competition and Markets Authority highlighted that these price hikes bore no relation to production costs or investment, as the underlying treatment had been introduced in 1955.
To protect these massive profit margins, Auden Mckenzie and its successor, Actavis UK, entered into anti-competitive agreements to buy off potential rivals who were developing generic alternatives. This blocked market competition that would have naturally lowered prices. Even when competing suppliers eventually emerged, Actavis UK maintained dominant control over the market to continue its unfair pricing practices.
In 2021, the CMA issued a landmark decision finding the companies guilty of abusing their dominant position and entering into illegal market agreements, imposing original penalties totaling £266 million. Following a subsequent rejection of the pharmaceutical firms’ claims by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2023, the Court of Appeal has now formally dismissed the remaining liability appeals, stating that none of the arguments came close to overturning the findings.
While the Court remitted the specific issue of financial penalties back to the Competition Appeal Tribunal for technical reconsideration, the core infringement findings remain entirely intact. Juliette Enser, Executive Director for Competition Enforcement, emphasized that the ruling sends an unmistakable signal to the industry: exploitation of the public health system will face severe enforcement. The decision reinforces regulatory oversight across the pharmaceutical sector, closing a prolonged legal battle to protect public funds from predatory pricing schemes.