Response from the Competition and Markets Authority

[eghjm100]

Some time ago I got the contact details from this site for the Competition Markets Authority and subsequently went on their web site and filled in a very short form making a complaint about the cost of T3 charged by Mercury Pharma to the NHS this is the reply I got I think it was worth doing and I'm sure if more of us did this we could have some impact!

Reply: Dear Mrs EGHJM

Thank you for your notification form of 21 December 2016 about Mercury Pharma Group.

We are grateful that you have taken the trouble to get in touch with us. We depend on people contacting us with information about alleged anti-competitive practices or unfair trading practices. Using this information we can gain a deeper understanding of how markets are working and where appropriate we may contact businesses to remind them of the need to comply with competition and consumer laws or launch a full investigation into alleged unlawful conduct.

What happens next?

We have sent your correspondence to our Pipeline Team which analyses and assesses the information we receive and advises on which cases offer the best prospect to make real differences for consumers, enabling us to decide which cases to take forward.

You will appreciate that, like any public authority, we have finite resources so we have to prioritise which cases we pursue. We decide this on the basis of our published prioritisation principles. You can find more about these as well as about our current cases and projects on our website.

What you have sent us will help us consider whether we should make more detailed enquiries. We will get in touch with you if we need more information, but as I am sure you will understand, we cannot engage in further correspondence with everyone who contacts us. Even where we do not immediately take up a case, the information you and other people provide to us is valuable in helping us to build up a fuller picture of how markets are working and may in time lead to us taking some further action.

Thank you again for contacting us.

Yours sincerely

Philip McCormick

Competition and Markets Authority

Victoria House | Southampton Row | London | WC1B 4AD

020 3738 6000 | gov.uk/cma | @CMAgovUK

This message was classified by Philip McCormick ([e-mail]) at Thu, 29 Dec 2016 11:33:10 GMT

[shaws Administrator]

That's brilliant that they corresponded with you. Now it's up to all the T3s on this forum to write even if they cannot respond. They will take notice.

[bluebug in reply to shaws]

Hopefully others will read this thread.

Otherwise maybe it is worth telling people to write on the main website with a list of things they should mention in their letter. Copy and paste templates don't work when writing to these organisations any more because they are aware of the power of the internet.

[eghjm100 in reply to bluebug]

bluebug* you don't actually write to them you go on their web site and fill in a very simple form stating what your complaint is about and who you are. I do hope people give it a go it's very simple and worth doing.

[sulamaye in reply to eghjm100]

I'd like to do it do I click on that web link that is showing? Also I feel I need to know more about the details of why it is anti competitive. What was the basis of your argument? I know t3 is very expensive but what is the argument for why they are anti competitive?

[shaws Administrator in reply to sulamaye]

There are two other T3's available but not licenced so they have to be prescribed on a 'named-patient' basis which means the GPs have to take full responsibility if we have an adverse reaction. (We shouldn't do but one never knows). There is ony one licenced T3 in the UK, so why cannot there be more licenced T3s. The cost has risen from about £20/30 per month to over £800 so I believe. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[eghjm100 in reply to sulamaye]

sulamaye* it is purely price, there has been in the press recently, companies who have been ripping off the NHS on overpriced meds and have been named and shamed and action taken so we should all report them

[sulamaye in reply to eghjm100]

Thanks, have done my best. Obviously the more of us that do it the more likely they are to look at it.

[eghjm100 in reply to sulamaye]

sulamaye* Well done that's just what we need

people power/pester power

[Treepie]

I did the same a while back and posted on here ..I had the same reply.But digging around on the site it said they were investigating pharma prices ( without specifying which ) and would decide ,I think by February ,decide whether to take further or drop the investigation.

[Tigreg]

Without wanting to be negative, I think that was a very "feeble" response from the Competition and Markets Authority.......

[eghjm100 in reply to Tigreg]

Tigreg* Perhaps you should tell them that, that would be a positive response

[moyramm]

Well done eghjm100 for highlighting this I did hear this week that Concordia International are being investigated over unfair pricing but not sure which medications are involved

[levelslass]

Just about to send in complaint to Competition and Markets Authority. Would you advise sending directly to your correspondent Philip McCormick or is it better to submit on their general online complaints form. If that is what you did which category did you submit under as couldn't find a relevant sector. There didn't seem to be a category for pharmaceutical companies. Perhaps I missed that. Thanks

[eghjm100]

If I remember rightly I filled in the online form general enquiries category I also complained to my local PALS CCG the more you complain to the better but it was the Pals CCG who forced my GP to continue prescribing T3 for me until such times as my CCG issue a directive not to supply each CCG makes it's own decision as to prescribing T3 or not if I were you I would send it to all of them.hope that helps

[levelslass]

Thanks for this. Wrote to Mr McCormick and received similar reply ie sent to pipeline team. Also attach photo of Uni Pharma T3 and Greek pharmacy receipt to show that I can purchase 25 mcg x 30 tabs of T3 in Crete for 1 euro 15 cents. Not the £258 plus that the GP has to charge me for 20 mcg x 28 tabs. This is an absolute scandal and we the taxpayers are mugs for not making more of a fuss about this. So PLEASE EVERYBODY send emails with your experiences and complaints to the Competition and Markets Authority as above. Let's inundate them. They are gathering information and data I believe until August 2017 so not long to go.

[YvonneUP]

HI, I am interested in the concept of researching this angle and making more noise, perhaps also raising a petition to make something be done about it. Did you get any response to the letter? It would be good to join forces rather than do things piecemeal. Many thanks

Y.