Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sustainability of a market cap model as used in the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access.

As part of our preparations to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry a mutually beneficial successor scheme to the current Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS), the Government is considering all relevant issues such as the use of a cap on allowed sales.

In the December 2022 consultation on the impact of changes to the Statutory Scheme for Branded Medicines, which included an associated Impact Assessment, we consulted on the scheme’s methodology which is based around ensuring we continue to control growth at a rate of 1.1% and maintain broad commercial equivalence with VPAS. The Department has received materials from the pharmaceutical industry, Trade Associations and from individual companies about a wide range of issues relevant to both the Voluntary and Statutory Schemes for branded medicines pricing. We will be considering this evidence over the coming weeks, and will publish our response alongside the final Impact Assessment.

With regard to increasing medicine spend, the Secretary of State met with industry Trade Associations in 2022 and was clear that, whilst we cannot agree any change to the current scheme, the Government is open to ideas about how a successor to VPAS should operate from 2024 onwards and that we will work with industry to agree a successor scheme that supports better patient outcomes, ensures the sustainability of National Health Service spend on branded medicines, and enables a strong United Kingdom life sciences industry.