Liothyronine: Prices

(asked on 7th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with pharmaceutical companies on reducing the cost of the drug liothyronine.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 15th January 2019

The Department has not had any discussions with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the cost of liothyronine tablets.

Liothyronine is an unbranded generic medicine. The Department encourages competition between suppliers of unbranded generic medicines to keep prices down. This generally works well and has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe.

Concerns about anti-competitive behaviour are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate. Liothyronine, marketed by Concordia, is currently the subject of an investigation by the CMA, which has provisionally found that Concordia abused its dominant position to overcharge the National Health Service by millions for liothyronine tablets. A provisional decision does not necessarily lead to an infringement decision. Where companies have breached competition law, the Department will seek damages and invest that money back into the NHS.

The Department also has its own powers to limit prices of unbranded generic medicines and will consult early in 2019 with the relevant industry bodies on implementation of those powers.

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