Deal brings together packaging and manufacturing services

Pharmaceutical packaging specialist Chester Medical has acquired East Yorkshire vitamin and health food manufacturer Power Health Products in what bosses call a “major milestone deal”.

Wirral-based Chester Medical, which also has a carton and label manufacturing site in Deeside in North Wales, was founded in 1965 and works with pharmaceutical, medical and veterinary businesses across the UK.

Power Health Products, based in Pocklington, was founded in 1972 and today is a contract manufacturer of health food supplements, sports nutrition products, and hair and skin care products. It employs some 80 people.

The firms will keep trading under their existing names and will maintain their current operations.

David Patterson, managing director of Chester Medical, said: ”This acquisition is a major milestone for Chester Medical. It enhances our offering, creates new opportunities for collaboration and growth, and strengthens our ability to support customers at every stage of their journey. There is an excellent cultural and operational fit between the two companies, and we are excited to see what we can achieve together.”

Vicky McIver, managing director of Power Health Products, said: “The health food supplements market has evolved significantly over the last five decades, and we are proud to have grown and evolved with it. Joining forces with Chester Medical marks an exciting new stage of growth for us and secures a strong future for the business. We are grateful to the RSM and LCF Law teams for their expertise and advice throughout the process.”

Brabners Deal Advisory, led by Paula McGrath with Dan Rice and Nicole Turton, provided acquisition advice to Chester Medical. Craig Geraghty, Kieran Donovan, Kevin Howard, Megan Parker, Paige Draper and Paul Hardy at Napthens provided legal advice.

DSG, led by Adam Brighouse with Andrew Moss, Anna Pope and Callum Lea, provided financial due diligence for Chester Medical. Rob Hackney and Alex Kier supported with tax advisory work.

Power Health was advised by RSM UK, led by James Atkinson with Rich Winter and Charlotte Turner, with tax advice led by Chris Etherington and Camilla Taylor. LCF Law, led by Rebecca Ridley and Brad Stewart slongside Sam Durling, Duncan Robertson, Harriet Thornton and Danielle Lynn, provided legal advice to Power Health’s shareholders.

Paula McGrath, principal and head of Brabners Deal Advisory, said: “Our long-standing relationship with Chester Medical and close contact with RSM aided this process immensely. It has been a pleasure to help the business take this important step in its growth and we look forward to watching it continue to develop under this new structure.”

James Atkinson, deal services partner at RSM UK, said: “Power Health Products’ strategic union with Chester Medical represents a strong deal for both parties. Their combined expertise and ambitions offer a healthy foundation for the combined entity’s continued growth across the health supplements market. We wish the whole team the best of luck as they move forward.”

Kieran Donovan, corporate partner and head of Liverpool office at Napthens said: ” We were delighted to advise Chester Medical on its acquisition of Power Health Products, a well-established Yorkshire business with a strong reputation in the health and wellness sector. The acquisition represents an exciting strategic opportunity for our client and provides an excellent platform for the continued growth and development of their business.”

A group of nine pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) announced Thursday that they will work with an industry group to boost the transparency of prescription drug pricing through the TrumpRx platform.

FOX Business exclusively learned that the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) and nine PBMs reached an agreement to showcase the cash price of prescriptions from TrumpRx within their benefit tools. The agreement aims to give patients better visibility into the cost of the medication and how they might save money on it.

“President Trump has made lowering prescription drug costs for Americans a priority, and this commitment is a step in the right direction,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told FOX Business.

“By making negotiated drug prices available alongside cash prices on TrumpRx, this agreement will give patients greater visibility into how much they’re paying and help them find the best possible deal,” Oz explained. “That’s the kind of transparency we need to boost competition, drive down costs, and deliver better value for American patients.”

AMERICANS SAVE MORE THAN $700M ON PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS THROUGH TRUMPRX, WHITE HOUSE SAYS

The arrangement will list cash prices on TrumpRx alongside the plan benefit price for the same prescription at an in-network pharmacy. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The nine major PBMs that are participating include CarelonRx, CVS Health, Express Scripts, Humana, MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Navitus Health Solutions, OptumRx, Prime Therapeutics and WellDyne. Another PBM, VytlOne, is also joining the effort.

Patients will be able to see TrumpRx prices if they’re enrolled in plans from those PBMs, including commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans. The arrangement will cover all drugs that have a price on TrumpRx – either a presidential deal or a standard price.

PRESIDENT LAUNCHES TRUMPRX.GOV WEBSITE OFFERING AMERICANS DISCOUNTED PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES: ‘HISTORIC’

CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said the deal will boost price transparency for consumers. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Consumers and patients are better off when they have more options and a clear view of their costs,” said PCMA CEO David Marin. “If there are times when a product is cheapest on TrumpRx, patients should know that. This administration has embraced the use of real-time benefit tools to give patients more information, and we strongly embrace this technology.”

“This commitment will allow consumers to compare options and make better informed choices about costs and where they access prescription drugs. It’s a no-brainer for our industry and for American families,” Marin added.

TWO MAJOR DRUG COMPANIES ARE THE LATEST TO JOIN TRUMPRX

The Trump administration launched the TrumpRx website earlier this year. (Pool / Fox News)

PCMA noted that the nine PBMs participating in this announcement are expected to provide price transparency on their benefit platforms, though some may do so in other ways.

Some of the PBMs will use their Real Time Benefit Tools to display the cash price available on TrumpRx compared with the cost of the prescription through their plan’s coverage benefit at a network pharmacy, while others may pull in the TrumpRx pricing using other methods.

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Shein has lost its High Court claim against rival Temu over the alleged copyright infringement of photographs of its clothing, with Judge Kelyn Bacon ruling on Thursday that the online fast-fashion group’s claims had failed.

The case, which went to trial in London in May, centred on product photographs that Shein said had been used on Temu’s platform to advertise copies of Shein’s own-brand clothing. Shein accused Temu of breaching its copyright “on an industrial scale” and of using the images to “piggy-back” on a more established competitor.

Temu, which is owned by PDD Holdings, denied the allegations and argued that Shein was using litigation to stifle competition.

In her written ruling, Judge Bacon rejected Shein’s argument that Temu had authorised infringement by the third-party merchants who uploaded the photographs to its website, noting that Temu “prohibits merchants from uploading infringing content”. Shein did not pursue a separate argument that Temu had itself reproduced the photographs, the judge said, because Temu’s servers are located outside the United Kingdom.

The judge also found that, even if infringement had been established, Temu could have relied on the hosting defence, which shields online platforms acting as intermediaries from liability for content uploaded by third parties where they lack knowledge of the infringement.

“In so far as any infringements could be established in this case, Temu did not have either actual knowledge of the infringements or awareness of facts or circumstances from which the infringements would have been apparent,” Judge Bacon said.

A Shein spokesperson said there was no dispute that Shein owned the thousands of photographs it had sued over, or that they had appeared on Temu’s website. “Yet despite copying on an industrial scale, it has avoided liability in the UK simply because the servers supporting its UK website happen to sit in Ireland,” the spokesperson said.

Elise Cant, associate and trade mark attorney at intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk, said the court had found Temu’s role in relation to the use of the photographs to be of a “mere technical, automatic and passive nature”.

“The decision is likely to be welcomed by market-place based retailers although traditional retailers may view it less favourably,” Cant said. “It provides greater legal certainty for online marketplaces by confirming that platforms such as Temu which play a passive intermediary role in the advertisement and sale of goods on their website are less likely to face liability for infringing content uploaded by third-party sellers.”

Cant added that the ruling “may make it more difficult for traditional retailers and rights holders to pursue infringement claims against marketplace operators where infringing product listings are uploaded by independent sellers, potentially shifting the focus of enforcement efforts towards the sellers themselves rather than the platforms that host their listings”.

The judgment comes as both platforms face wider scrutiny in Britain. UK retailers have pressed the government to fast-track a tax crackdown on low-value imports sold by Shein and Temu, while Shein recently reported a $99m quarterly loss ahead of a planned Hong Kong listing.

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