Vijay Patel (born around 1950) is an Indian-English businessman. In the

2019 New Year Honours The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, Patel was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. The award drew criticism due to his company Atnahs increasing the prices of certain

generic medications A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that contains the same chemical substance as a drug that was originally protected by chemical patents. Generic drugs are allowed for sale after the patents on the original drugs expire. Because the active ch ...

, resulting in considerable extra costs, totalling more than 16 million pounds, being incurred by the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 2017. He was born in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and as of 2016 lives in

Essex, England Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. He and his brother Bhikhu Patel started the pharmaceutical company Waymade Plc. The company Atnahs was started in 2013. Together with his brother in 2016 he was estimated to be worth 675 million pounds. The

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

found that Waymade and Auden Mckenzie had entered into anti competitive agreements in relation to the supply of

hydrocortisone Hydrocortisone is the name for the hormone cortisol when supplied as a medication. Uses include conditions such as adrenocortical insufficiency, adrenogenital syndrome, high blood calcium, thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatitis, asthma, ...

to the NHS. Auden Mckenzie paid Waymade to stay out of the market between 2011 and 2015 while it increased the price from around £46 to £90 for a pack of 30 20 mg tablets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Vijay Living people 1950 births Year of birth uncertain Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century English businesspeople 21st-century English businesspeople Pharmaceutical company founders