Editing Merck Group (section)

=== Price fixing settlement ===
Generics UK (Merck's former British subsidiary, the global Generics business being sold on 2 October 2007) paid a £12M [[out-of-court settlement]] with the [[Department of Health and Social Care]] of the UK over involvement in an alleged [[Price fixing|price and supply fixing]] cartel.<ref>{{cite news | first= Simon| last= Bowers| title=Merck subsidiary pays £12m over price-fixing claims in sales to NHS | date= 30 June 2005| url =http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,1517712,00.html | work =[[The Guardian]] | access-date = 11 October 2007 | location=London}}</ref>

The [[National Health Service|NHS]] alleges various drugs companies exploited the [[Oligopoly|oligopolistic market]] conditions, forcing the NHS to pay inflated prices. NHS fraud investigators believe there was a [[Conspiracy (civil)|conspiracy]] to limit the supply of 30 of its most commonly prescribed drugs, including a class of [[penicillin]] [[antibiotics]] and to a [[generic drugs|generic]] version of best-selling [[Peptic ulcer|ulcer]] treatment [[Ranitidine|Zantac]].<ref>{{cite news | first= Sam| last= Lister| title=Drug chiefs on price-fixing charges | date= 6 April 2006| url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article702469.ece | archive-url =https://archive.today/20110524021422/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article702469.ece | url-status =dead | archive-date =24 May 2011 | work =[[The Times]] | access-date = 11 October 2007 | location=London}}</ref> The NHS has so far filed claims in relation to just three drugs, seeking damages of more than £150m, while the [[Serious Fraud Office (United Kingdom)|Serious Fraud Office]] (SFO) is conducting a parallel investigation into the price-fixing allegations limited to the supply of blood-thinning pill [[warfarin]] and [[penicillin]]-based [[antibiotics]]. Homes and offices of [[Senior management|executives]] at six firms, including [[Ranbaxy]], Generics UK, [[Norton Healthcare]], Goldshield and Regent-GM were raided by the SFO in May 2002.{{cn|date=June 2024}}