Pfizer Inc. won an appeal against an £84.2 million fine charged by the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority for an allegedly illegal price increase on an epilepsy treatment, The Financial Times reported.
The competition regulator imposed the fine on Pfizer along with an additional £5.2 million penalty on drug distributor Flynn Pharma Ltd. in 2016 for abusing their dominant position by charging unfair prices.
Pfizer, which originally marketed the drug as Epanutin, sold the drug's U.K. distribution rights to Flynn Pharma in 2012, which started selling it under the generic name phenytoin sodium.
With the generic version no longer subject to price regulation, the drug's price increased by up to 2,600% overnight, the Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, had said.
The price charged to the U.K's National Health Service, or NHS, for the drug's 100-milligram packs rose to £67.50 from £2.83, before falling to £54.00 in May 2014, increasing NHS spending on the capsules to about £50 million in 2013 from about £2 million in 2012.
Pfizer, which had called the drug loss-making, was ordered along with Flynn to reduce its price to a level that was not excessive and unfair.
In its decision on the appeal, the Competition Appeals Tribunal said the competition regulator was incorrect in reaching its market dominance conclusions, the newspaper reported.
The tribunal added that the CMA had failed to determine the right economic value for the drug or take into account alternative medications and sent the case back to the regulator pending written submissions from the parties.
The CMA said the ruling could lead to a severe delay in other investigations into drug pricing and pharmaceutical competition, according to the news outlet.
