Among the many worthy recipients of awards in the new year’s honours list, one name may have come as a surprise to Times readers. Vijay Patel, who was appointed OBE for services to business and philanthropy, was the subject of a 2016 front- page investigation by this newspaper into his company, Atnahs. We revealed how multimillionaire Mr Patel exploited a loophole in NHS pricing rules that enabled his company to buy up the rights to old drugs that had lost patent protection and massively jack up their prices. Atnahs raised the price of one antidepressant from £5.71 to £154 and an insomnia treatment from £12.10 to £138. Our story led to a national outcry and prompted a change in NHS rules.

Source: The Times January 06, 2019 23:59 UTC