Company accused of exploiting unique features of drug to retain market share

doi:10.1136/bmj.39517.383484.DB

BMJ 2008;336:576 (15 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39517.383484.DB

News

Company accused of exploiting unique features of drug to retain market share

Zosia Kmietowicz

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Doctors, governments, and drug regulators must watch the waydrug companies operate because the dearth of new medicines istaking profit chasing to new heights, an expert has warned.

Joe Collier, emeritus professor of drug policy at St George’s,University of London, issued his advice in the wake of an investigationby the BBC’s Newsnight programme, which suggested thatReckitt Benckiser, the makers of Gaviscon (sodium alginate andpotassium bicarbonate), maintained an effective monopoly onthe market for years after the drug came off patent.

The investigation, which was broadcast last Friday, claimedthat the company had created obstacles to block rival manufacturersfrom selling cheaper generic copies, resulting in there stillbeing no generic version of Gaviscon almost 10 years after theproduct’s patent expired in 1999.

A former employee turned whistleblower claimed on Newsnightthat the company had "cheated the NHS" and that a generic formulationof Gaviscon . . . [Full text of this article]

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