An investigation by The Times in 2016 had exposed how drug companies exploited a loophole in NHS rules to impose large price increases.
The price paid by the NHS for prochlorperazine 3mg dissolvable tablets rose by 700 per cent, from £6.49 a packet to more than £51, between December 2013 and December 2017, costing the NHS an extra £5 million a year.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently ruled that several pharmaceutical companies broke the law by fixing the market and agreeing not to produce a rival version of the drug, which can be prescribed to chemotherapy patients.
CMA reported that Focus Pharma came into agreement with Lexon and Medreich to stay out of the market in exchange for a share of the profits.
Lexon is a Gujarati family-owned business and independent wholesaler. One of their Directors, Nitin Sodha, is the former chair of the NPA. He later resigned from his post when Lexon was charged with NHS price-fixing.
A report in The Times stated that drug companies Lexon and Medreich were fined £7.3 million and £4.6 million respectively. Fines of £260 million and £100 million were imposed last year over price rises for two other drugs.
