Household goods giant Reckitt Benckiser was accused today of abusing its dominant position in the supply of heartburn medicines to the NHS.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleges that Reckitt sought to restrict competition to its Gaviscon treatment by offering family doctors only a more expensive version of the product when they searched prescribing software.
Doctors use software to search for well-branded products and then provide patients with an "open" prescription that lists its generic name.
The OFT said Reckitt deliberatelydelisted a sister product just before cheaper generic rivals joined thelist
This allows pharmacies to choose whether to dispense the brand or a cheaper rival, at considerable cost savings to the NHS.
In a statement of objections, the OFT said Reckitt deliberatelydelisted a sister product just before cheaper generic rivals joined thelist.
The timing of this meant that an NHS doctor searching for Gavisconwould instead bring up its Gaviscon Advance Liquid - a patent protectedversion that did not have an "open" prescription which would haveallowed generic rivals to be shown to GPs, according to the OFT.
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Simon Williams, senior director for goods at the OFT, said: "Thiscase raises significant and complex competition issues relating to thesupply of prescription drugs to the NHS."
The OFT said it would wait for a response from Reckitt before givinga final verdict on whether it believes competition law has been broken.
If found guilty, Reckitt could face a potential fine of up to 10% ofits worldwide turnover, which stood at 7.75billion in 2009.
But Reckitt said it believes it "competes fairly and within the letter and spirit of the law in all of our operations".
The group added: "Gaviscon Advance is a second generation product, superior to Gaviscon Original.
"Gaviscon Advance was launched to provide patients with effective and long-lasting relief from heartburn and indigestion.
"Reckitt Benckiser will now review the OFT statement and respond accordingly."
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