UK regulator finds Alliance, Advanz carved up market for antibiotic (updated)

Alliance Healthcare

25/07/2019 07:56

(Adds details on probe)
    July 25 (Reuters) - The UK Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA) on Thursday said it had found provisionally that sellers
of antibiotic Nitrofurantoin broke competition law by "arranging
to carve up the market between them".
    The watchdog said from 2014 to at least October 2017, two
suppliers, Advanz Pharma Corp  ADVZ.TO  and Morningside, and a
wholesaler, Alliance Healthcare  ALLA.SI , entered into
arrangements under which Alliance would buy equal volumes of the
drug from each of the suppliers so that they would not compete.
    During 2015 and 2016, the two suppliers also committed to
supply the drug exclusively to Alliance, the watchdog added.
    Nitrofurantoin is one of the most effective options for
treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) like cystitis which are
among the most common infections world-wide and have become a
focal point for concerns about growing bacterial resistance to
antibiotics. 
    "We've provisionally found that suppliers of this important
antibiotic entered into arrangements with the aim of keeping
Nitrofurantoin capsule prices artificially high, meaning the NHS
wouldn't benefit from the lower prices that come from effective
competition," said Ann Pope, the CMA's Senior Director of
Antitrust.
    The CMA said the investigation had focussed on the capsule
form of Nitrofurantoin rather than tablets or liquid versions.
    AMCo, now known as Advanz and formerly Concordia
International Corp, was the sole UK supplier of both products,
until Morningside entered the market in mid-2014, the watchdog
said.

 (Reporting by Justin George Varghese and Ankur Banerjee in
Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)
 ((justin.varghese@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +91 80 6749 3486;
Reuters Messaging:
justin.varghese.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))