Chile’s Pharmacies In Spotlight Over Collusion

After a scandal over alleged price-fixing, Chile’s pharmacy chains are in the firing line, but theirs are not the only problems in an industry that has such an impact on Chileans’ health and pockets.

The storm broke in late March when Farmacias Ahumada (FASA), one of Chile’s three powerful pharmacy chains, told the country’s anti-trust regulator that it had colluded with its two main rivals, Cruz Verde and Salcobrand, to push up the prices of more than 200 drugs, including treatments for serious chronic diseases like epilepsy and diabetes.

The Chilean public was understandably furious.