Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department takes to ensure that independent pharmacists are able to obtain essential medicine at fair and reasonable prices.

The Department relies on competition to keep the prices of unbranded generic medicines 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. The costs of branded medicine are controlled by the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the statutory scheme for branded medicines.

We are clear that companies should not capitalise on the current COVID-19 situation by charging unjustifiably high prices for certain drugs or devices. Concerns about potential drug pricing abuses are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority.