Healthcare group Uniphar has strongly rejected claims made in the High Court that it breached an agreement and abused its dominant market position to take over a pharmacy broker business.
The Dublin-listed group, which owns and operates large Irish pharmacy brands including Life and Hickey’s, is the defendant in a lawsuit taken by Dublin-based Thera Pharmaceuticals.
The Irish Times reported on Thursday that Thera Pharmaceuticals, part of the Navi group, is suing Uniphar in the High Court, seeking several remedies, including the restoration of its broker account.
In a statement on Friday morning, Uniphar said it was “disappointed” with the “unilateral stance” Thera had taken in the High Court action and “categorically” rejected the allegations.
“We honour our contractual obligations at all times,” it said.
“Our customers remain our first priority and we will continue to provide the highest levels of service to them while we seek to address the allegations and defend our good name through the courts.”
At issue in the case is an agreement between the group and Thera, which provides infrastructure allowing pharmacies to buy products from wholesalers such as Uniphar, which Thera has claimed was unilaterally breached by the larger group.
The deterioration in relations between the businesses followed Uniphar’s takeover bid of Navi, which was blocked by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in 2021 because it would substantially lessen competition in the markets.
In an affidavit opened in court this week, Thera founder and director John Carroll said his company has had a brokerage agreement with Uniphar Wholesale since 2015. He claimed Uniphar, however, has its own electronic ordering platform that competes with his company’s.
Mr Carroll said Uniphar had, in recent times, made unilateral changes to its agreement, including the blocking of Thera’s trading account.
Uniphar is also attempting to manufacture, in breach of the agreement, a large €3.49 million liability designed to destabilise Thera, he alleged.
Uniphar is also attempting to force certain pharmacies to route all their purchases through it or face being cut off at the end of the month, Mr Carroll said, adding that the defendants have made “a strategic decision” to launch a multifaceted attack on the brokerage agreement and the business relationship to try to take over Thera’s business and seeks to abuse its dominant position.
