Nelson pharmacy fined $344,000 and director $50,000 for price-fixing

The Wellington High Court has ordered Prices Pharmacy 2011 Limited and a director of the company, Stuart Hebberd, to pay fines of $344,000 and $50,000 respectively, after they admitted engaging in price-fixing in breach of the Commerce Act. The Commission filed proceedings in April 2018 alleging that Prices Pharmacy 2011 Limited and its directors facilitated a price-fixing arrangement with competing Nelson pharmacies in May 2016, in breach of Part 2 of the Commerce Act. In most cases, the arrangement resulted in consumers paying $6, instead of $5, for their prescription items.