GSD Goldshield Grp

RNS Number:4830F
Goldshield Group PLC
23 December 2002


                                23 December 2002



                              Goldshield Group plc



                        ("Goldshield" or "the Company")



                  Claim from The Secretary of State for Health



Goldshield Group plc announces that it has received a claim for damages from The
Secretary of State for Health and certain other claimants arising from the sale
and supply of the anticoagulant drug Warfarin between 1996 and 2000.  Goldshield
intends to defend the claim vigorously.



The Secretary of State for Health together with The Prescription Pricing
Authority and twenty-eight Strategic Health Authorities ("the Claimants") have
issued a claim in the High Court in London against Norton Healthcare Limited,
Norton Pharmaceuticals Limited, Regent-GM Laboratories Limited, Goldshield Group
plc, Goldshield Pharmaceuticals Limited and Forley Generics Limited seeking
damages of #28,584,748.  Goldshield Pharmaceuticals Limited and Forley Generics
Limited are wholly owned subsidiaries of Goldshield.  Norton Healthcare Limited,
Norton Pharmaceuticals Limited and Regent-GM Laboratories are entirely
unconnected with the Goldshield Group.



The Claimants allege that arrangements were conducted in respect of the sale and
supply of Warfarin in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2000 in breach of
competition laws entitling them to claim damages from the Goldshield Group and
the other parties named in their claim.  The Goldshield does not believe that it
has acted in an anti-competitive or improper way and intends to defend the legal
proceedings vigorously.



Goldshield sells prescription pharmaceuticals and other non-prescription
medicines through its Pharmaceutical Division and a range of vitamins, minerals,
supplements and a wide range of other healthcare products through its Healthcare
Division.  During the period 1st January 1996 and 31st December 2000
Goldshield's Pharmaceutical Division made total sales to the National Health
Service of approximately #6.9 million of Warfarin-based pharmaceuticals
representing 3.7% of the Goldshield Group's total turnover of approximately #185
million during this period (based on the Company's internal financial records).



On 10 April 2002, the Company announced that it was the subject of a separate
investigation by the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") in respect of a suspected
conspiracy to defraud the National Health Service involving the prices charged
by suppliers of penicillin-based antibiotics and Warfarin during the period from
1st January 1996 to 31st December 2000. Goldshield has never sold any
penicillin-based antibiotics.  Goldshield understood that five other companies
were also under investigation by the SFO which has still to announce the outcome
of its investigation.



The Company maintains that it has conducted its business affairs in a lawful and
proper manner.  The Company and its Advisors are constrained by the legal
proceedings from making any further comment.



                                    - ENDS -




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