Reckitt Benckiser has agreed to pay a £10.2m fine after admitting to abusing its market position for the supply of Gaviscon. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had accused the company of restricting competition in the supply of heartburn medicines to the NHS. The company withdrew Gaviscon from the NHS in 2005, and patients were transferred to Gaviscon Advance. The OFT allege that Reckitt Benckiser withdrew NHS packs of Gaviscon Original Liquid from the NHS prescription channel after the product's patent had expired but before the publication of the generic name for it, so that more prescriptions would be issued for its alternative product, Gaviscon Advance Liquid. Reckitt said in a statement that it believed it had acted within the law at the time, but it respected the OFT's view and had agreed to settle.