NHS drug suppliers investigated over prices

The competition watchdog has launched an investigation into drug companies accused of charging the NHS excessive prices.

If the companies are found by the the Competition and Markets Authority to have broken the law, they could face fines of up to 10% of their turnover.

The CMA said: “The investigation relates to suspected unfair pricing by way of charging excessive prices in the supply of certain pharmaceutical products, including to the National Health Service.”

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, called in the CMA in June after an investigation by the Times suggested companies were exploiting a loophole in NHS rules to raise prices of medicines.

The newspaper alleged that companies faced limited competition on long-established, off-patent drugs, bought from large pharmaceutical firms. It was also claimed that the prices of 32 drugs had risen by more than 1,000% in the past five years.

Concordia International said it was one of the companies being investigated. A spokesman said: “We are working co-operatively to better understand the CMA’s position and we will continue to work constructively to resolve the matter.

“Although Concordia has also had past discussions with the CMA regarding the supply of certain of its products in the UK, this is the first interaction with the CMA regarding the company’s pricing.”

NHS drug suppliers investigated over prices

Caribbean cruise liner investigated following virtually 300 passengers fall sick

US health officials boarded a cruise ship in the US Virgin Islands on Sunday to investigate an illness outbreak that has stricken at least 300 individuals with gastrointestinal signs like vomiting and diarrhea.

The US Centers for Ailment Handle and Prevention (CDC) explained 281 of the three,050 passengers on board Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas had reported getting sick during a Caribbean cruise that left Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Twenty-two crew members also reported feeling ill.

Janet Diaz, spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean Cruises, said organization representatives boarded the ship as it manufactured a port phone in St Thomas, the primary island of the US Virgin Islands.

At least two CDC officials, an epidemiologist and an environmental overall health officer, had been anticipated to investigate and assess the response to the outbreak on the cruise liner.

Throughout the earlier port contact in Puerto Rico, the ship underwent “extensive and thorough sanitising” to help avoid a lot more individuals obtaining sick, the firm spokeswoman mentioned. The ship bypassed a scheduled end at the company’s fenced-in seaside location in northern Haiti to sail immediately to Puerto Rico’s capital.

“This was a challenging selection to make nonetheless, we truly feel it is ideal to make this itinerary modification to support avoid any more guests from turning into sick,” Diaz stated.

The passengers and crew who fell sick have “responded effectively to in excess of-the-counter medicine getting administered onboard the ship”, she stated.

Quick-spreading norovirus is frequently to blame for similar signs and symptoms sweeping closed quarters this kind of as those on cruise ships. Diaz said specific cleansing items and disinfectants that are confirmed to kill norovirus were becoming utilised to clean the ship.

In a statement on Sunday, Beverly Nicholson-Doty, the US Virgin Islands’ tourism commissioner, mentioned the territory was grateful for the CDC’s “rapid response” and St Thomas was ready to welcome ship passengers cleared to disembark.

On Friday, an Explorer of the Seas passenger named Arnee Dodd tweeted that she had fallen ill and was quarantined with the other sick individuals. The Connecticut female wrote that ship employees “put a lock down on meals &amp are continuously cleaning every little thing”.

It was not clear if any passengers had been even now currently being quarantined on Sunday.

Caribbean cruise liner investigated following virtually 300 passengers fall sick