Pfizer could face large fine over pricing of generic phenytoin

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer could face a fine of millions of pounds from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has been investigating the prices charged for a generic drug used to treat epilepsy.

Court papers seen by the Times shed new light on a deal in which Pfizer agreed to supply the drug to a generic company, Flynn Pharma, at a much greater price than it had been charging the NHS.1 Flynn could then increase the price still further by selling it under the generic name phenytoin sodium. Both companies would benefit, at the cost of the NHS.2

The papers seen by the Times relate to a case brought by another generic company, Tor Generics, which had approached Pfizer with a similar scheme in …