Judge throws out AbbVie’s case against NHS England’s hepatitis C programme
BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l309 (Published 21 January 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;364:l309
- Nigel Hawkes
- London, UK
NHS England has defeated a legal challenge by AbbVie against its £1bn (€1.1bn; $1.3bn) procurement of drugs to eliminate hepatitis C, enabling the programme to go ahead.
AbbVie claimed in the Technology and Construction Court that the procurement procedure had failed to treat all bidders fairly. But in a judgement given on 18 January by Mr Justice Choudhury, these arguments were rejected.1
The court action delayed the start of the programme by six months. NHS England said at the time the action was launched that AbbVie’s claims were “embarrassing for lack of particulars.”
The procurement was designed to achieve an affordable price for the drugs so that NHS England could plan to eliminate hepatitis C, believed to affect around 160 000 people, by 2025. Appealing to the industry to …
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