SMC criticises PPRS prescribing incentives
pharmafile | December 5, 2008 | News story | Sales and Marketing |ย ย NICE, parย
The government move to incentivise doctors for the prescription of new innovative medicines has been criticised by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Chairman Kenneth Patterson said it conflicted with the idea of giving patients a choice of treatment, as a doctor would always be more inclined to prescribe the medicine that would earn him money.
Patterson admitted that the sceptical British mindset often meant the uptake of new medicine was slow, but argued there should be no need for such schemes, “Innovative drugs should sell themselves.”
He also worried about the cost-effectiveness of such a system, and said expensive incentive schemes countered the investment of both time and money in training doctors to exercise their own clinical judgement.
GPs have previously received incentives for increased prescriptions of low-cost generic drugs, but the new PPRS agreement has seen ministers agree in principle to further prescribing incentives to promote the use of new innovative treatment.
It was the industry that pushed this aspect to the new pricing plan as a way to reward innovation in pharmaceuticals and also see it driven through the system.
Details as to how the incentive scheme will work are yet to be released but may be announced with the finalised PPRS this month. If the incentives are brought in with the rest of the new provisions, it could be effective as soon as February 2009.
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