Allergan accused of overpricing the drug by 12,000%

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accused the pharmaceutical company Allergan of inflating the price of a vital hydrocortisone drug by 12,000%.

This concerns 10mg hydrocortisone tablets. In April 2008, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) purchased a pack for £0.70 ($0.87), while by March 2016 the price had risen to £88 ($109) per pack. Thus, the price of the drug increased by 12,000%.

Allergan also significantly increased the prices for 20mg hydrocortisone tablets. Over the same period, the cost of the drug rose from £1.07 ($1.33) to £102.74 ($127.7), an increase of 9,500%.

Hydrocortisone is a vital drug used as replacement therapy for patients whose adrenal glands do not produce enough hormones. As a result, the NHS was forced to purchase the drug at inflated prices because it had no other choice, the CMA believes.

Consequently, the cost of purchasing hydrocortisone for the NHS was £552,000 ($686,400) per year before the price increases, and over £70 million ($87 million) afterwards.

On December 7, the CMA fined the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer £84.2 million ($107 million) and the pharmaceutical distributor Flynn Pharma £5.2 million ($6.6 million) for inflating the price of an anti-epilepsy drug by 2,600%.

Allergan Plc is an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Allergan's portfolio includes drugs for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, as well as ophthalmic, gastroenterological, urological products, aesthetic medicine devices, and others. Allergan owns the world's third-largest generics business. Until June 2015, the company was named Actavis Inc. It changed its name after acquiring the manufacturer of Botox, Allergan Plc.