Just 10 days after the UK’s Office of Fair Trading criticized Pfizer for a new distribution arrangement that may cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars in higher costs, AstraZeneca is moving ahead with previously announced plans to do the same thing. The drugmaker plans to supply its meds exclusively through just two distributors, the Unichem unit of Alliance Boots and Celesio’s AAH Pharmaceuticals, Reuters reports.

Earlier this month, the OFT issued a report about the problem, having already urged the government to reform the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme to ensure the National Health Service costs don’t rise as a result of these changes in distributions, which other drugmakers are expected to adopt. The NHS spends around $12 billion a year on branded meds dispensed by retail pharmacies. However, the OFT stopped short of calling for a formal investigation.

The so-called direct-to-pharmacy model has been attacked by independent pharmacists, members of Parliament and rival wholesalers, who argue that restricting the distribution of all Pfizer products to one UK supplier poses a threat to competition, drug pricing, patient welfare and the NHS. Smaller wholesalers and some docs say the tactic is really a bid to fight parallel trade, a legal practice in Europe in which meds can be imported for resale into the UK. Traditionally, drugs have been supplied to wholesalers, which then compete to supply pharmacies. Pfizer switched distribution models in March.

Hat tip to PharmaGossip