Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme
(asked on 14th December 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the financial effect of companies leaving the voluntary pharmaceutical price regulation scheme in the 2015-16 financial year.
Five companies have left the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme since January 2014 as follows:
- Derma November 2014;
- Genus (Thornton & Ross) November 2014;
- Vifor May 2015;
- Baxter October 2015; and
- Martindale October 2015
The Department estimates the financial effect to be a loss of around £10 million in 2015/16.
The Department’s consultation on options to amend the statutory scheme to control prices of branded health service medicines closed on 4 December 2015. The consultation was accompanied by an Impact Assessment which can be accessed:
The Department’s analysis in the Impact Assessment concludes that the options would reduce National Health Service spending on drugs without affecting the use of those drugs in the NHS. The consultation sought views, comments and evidence on the potential impacts and operation of the options to revise thestatutory branded prices scheme. The Department is considering the responses received and will respond to the consultation in early 2016.