NHS: Drugs

(asked on 9th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his Department taking to prevent the NHS being overcharged for off-patent drugs.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 24th June 2020

The costs of branded medicines, whether they have patents on them or not, are controlled by the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the statutory scheme for branded medicines.

For unbranded generic medicines the Department relies on competition to keep prices down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the United Kingdom can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients. Concerns about potential drug pricing abuses are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Where it has concern about the price of a generic medicines, the Department asks the CMA to investigate that price. The CMA has several ongoing investigations into excessive prices of generic medicines.

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