Reckitt Benckiser UK, the manufacturer of Gaviscon, is being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for allegedly breaching competition law by artificially restricting GP prescribing choices for heartburn. The OFT action follows an investigation by the BBC Newsnight programme in 2008, which estimated that the cost to the NHS of these actions could be £40m. It is alleged that the company had devised a plan to preserve the profits from NHS sales of Gaviscon as the patent was due to expire, by withdrawing it from the NHS in 2005 and replacing it with Gaviscon Advance, which is patent-protected until 2016. The OFT alleges that the withdrawal of Gaviscon Original Liquid from the prescription channel “was deliberately timed to occur before the publication of the generic name for this product.” In a statement, the company insists that it “competes fairly and within the letter and spirit of the law in all of our operations.”