OFT EXTENDS DRUG PRICING PROBE

The consumer affairs watchdog is extending an investigation into the country's drug pricing arrangements and plans to issue a final in-depth report in the first quarter of 2007, it said on Thursday. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched a probe last September into the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), which controls the price of branded medicines and profits made on their sale to the state health service.

Scotsman.com (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=456272006)