Gaviscon makers deny bid to monopolise market

The makers of indigestion medicine Gaviscon today denied attempting to maintain a market monopoly, thereby “cheating the NHS” out of millions of pounds, after a series of emails were leaked.

Executives at Reckitt Benckiser created obstacles to rival products, the emails suggested.

A former employee told BBC Newsnight that Reckitt Benckiser had “cheated the NHS” and could have saved it “millions of pounds”.

However, the drug firm said today it was a “responsible company” and denied it had enough power to carry out such a scheme.

It has, however, launched an internal investigation into the “inappropriate sentiment” featured in the memos.

The claims centre around what happened after the remedy came off patent nine years ago.

It should have paved the way for cheap generic copies to be made, but the documents include details of how the company said it could slow down the process.

Executives at the Hull-based manufacturer boasted that they had influenced regulatory bodies to delay the introduction of a generic product by objecting on a number of grounds including health and safety.