Reckitt Benckiser faces a series of investigations by competition and health regulators over an alleged secret plan to maintain a monopoly in the supply of Gaviscon, the lucrative heartburn medicine.Internal documents show that executives at Reckitt, the Hull-based drug and cleaning products company, plotted under the codename “Project Eric” to block rivals from selling cheaper generic copies of Gaviscon.
One former senior executive said Reckitt had “cheated the NHS”. It is thought that a cheaper, generic version of Gaviscon could have saved the health service £40 million a year.
E-mails between executives discuss how to “drag out as long as possible” the process of other companies being allowed to manufacture generic versions, and their intention to create “a further barrier to competitors” and “restrict entry for new competitors”.
The Times
Friday, March 07, 2008
Reckitt Benckiser - Gaviscon: Project Eric - cheat the NHS
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I don't normally post comments on such stories, but I will this time.
I would like to point out a few things regarding this quote:
One former senior executive said Reckitt had “cheated the NHS”. It is thought that a cheaper, generic version of Gaviscon could have saved the health service £40 million a year.
If a cheaper version were made, yes of course its going to be cheaper - hardly going to be dearer is it! But Its not going to save money if the cheaper version, copy or clone, call it what you will, is LESS EFFECTIVE and is simply thrown away after proving to be useless compared to the 'real deal' which is Gaviscon.
There is far more waste in the NHS than this supposed £40M that was 'cheated'. Its like that old saying 'you get what you pay for', buy cheap and waste all your money or buy dearer and waste a bit of money - you choose!
ANON Gaviscon buyer
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