End to RPM on medicaments

Pharmaceutical suppliers today abandoned opposition to the OFT's court action to remove legal protection from price fixing of branded, over-the-counter medicaments. The respondents told a Restrictive Practices Court hearing in London that they were withdrawing from the case. The court immediately made an order ending the 30-year old exemption of branded over the counter medicines - including vitamins, cough medicines and paracetemol - from a general ban on resale price maintenance (RPM).John Vickers, Director General of Fair Trading, was delighted at the news and said that consumers would now benefit from lower and more competitive prices. "After 30 years, retailers will be able to set their own prices competitively. Consumers will save many millions of pounds a year."Zoltan Biro, a Director in Frontier's London office, acted as expert on behalf of the OFT.