The Competition Market Authority (CMA) is seeking to overturn a decision which reversed a £35m fine imposed on four anti-nausea pharmaceuticals firms.
The CMA fined Alliance Pharmaceuticals, Focus (now owned by Advanz, previously owned by firm Cinven) and Lexon £35m in 2022 over an “illegal arrangement in the supply of important NHS prescription anti-nausea tablets”.
The anti-nausea medicine is known as prochlorperazine. Following an investigation, the CMA found that the price rose from £6.49 (pack of 50 tablets) in 2013 to £51.68 in 2017, representing a 700 per cent increase.
In addition, the CMA brought legal proceedings seeking disqualification orders against Pritesh Sonpal, Peter Butterfield, John Dawson, Mark Cresswell, Roland Brown, Graeme Duncan and Debangshu Dey.
The pharmaceutical companies went on to fight this decision by filing separate appeals (later merged) against the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
The High Court also remitted the disqualification orders to the Tribunal to address the question of whether the first condition under section 9A of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 has been satisfied.
The case went in front of Lord Ericht, Eamonn Doran and David Ulph last year.
In late May, the CAT handed down its ruling, which decided that there was no market exclusion agreement – adding that there was no breach of competition law.
The Tribunal granted the appeal, resulting in quashing the £35m fine.
The Tribunal also found on each of the directors in question that the first condition of the Disqualification Act was not satisfied.
Now the parties are back at court as the CMA seeks to overturn the decision of the Tribunal at the Court of Appeal, civil division. The parties are in for a long hearing as it is set to run between Wednesday 10 July until Tuesday 16 July.
Brick Court Chamber’s Daniel Jowell KC is on for Allergen, as instructed by Addleshaw Goddard. Accord has Brick Court’s Sarah Ford KC and Charlotte Thomas, instructed by Macfarlanes. And Cinven has Brick Court’s Robert O’Donoghue KC, Max Schaefer and Emma Mockford as instructed by Clifford Chance.
While the regulator’s legal team consists of 4 Stone Buildings’ Alexander Cook KC and Brick Court Chamber’s David Bailey, instructed by its in-house legal team.