Four out of five of the nation’s largest private suppliers of pharmaceuticals have been ordered to pay five percent of their annual revenue generated in 2018. This comes after a case was opened against the suppliers at the Federal Trade Competition & Consumer Protection Tribunal for unfair trade practices.

The Trade Competition & Consumer Protection Authority brought the case against Baker General Business Plc, Dat International Trading Plc, Pharma Berbir Plc, Amba Pharmaceuticals Plc and Caroga Pharmaceuticals Plc.

The Authority accused the companies of inflating the price of their products by nine to 32pc and for making anti-competitive agreements to unilaterally hike prices of pharmaceuticals.

The court summoned the defendants on December 13, 2017. While dropping some of the arguments presented by the defendants, it accepted the rest.

In its defense, Baker General stated that it is unjust to charge only five of the pharmaceutical companies out of the 527 importers in the country. It also affirmed that it did not collaborate with others in the business to create an anti-competitive environment and unfairly inflate prices.

Dat International also made the same defense argument and claimed that the charge against it was not supported by relevant evidence. The third defendant, Pharma Berbir, stated in its defense that its market share was much lower than the other defendants and that its prices were evaluated exclusively.

The fourth defendant, Amba, claimed the Authority did not present evidence of its annual revenue. It also argued that while the Authority claimed that Amba’s market share has been between eight and nine percent for two years, its share is actually under one percent.

The fifth defendant, Caroga, stated that the charges should be dropped, arguing that the Authority did not show how much it added onto the original price in percentage terms.