ABPI ‘deeply concerned’ by slow UK drugs uptake
pharmafile | September 7, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | ABPI, PPRS, Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, drugs bill, market access, medicines bill
The UK pharma industry paid £209 million to underwrite the UK medicines bill in second quarter of 2015, according to the ABPI.
The trade body says the payments, made as part of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), show pharma companies have contributed a total of £416m in payments so far in 2015.
The payments are made by the industry to help support the use of branded medicines by the NHS, by underwriting the growth in the medicines bill and encouraging the use of expensive, innovative and branded medicines in the UK NHS.
However, the growth rate of branded medicines in the scheme for the second quarter of 2015 was 2.41% – half the rate seen in 2014. The ABPI says the decline in the growth rate is a sign that the UK is still ‘lagging behind’ in providing patients with access to medicines.
David Watson, director of pricing and reimbursement for the ABPI, says: “As an industry, we want to see patients getting access to the best high value medicines across all therapy areas. This scheme provides the NHS with a unique opportunity to give patients in the UK greater access to new and innovative treatments at minimal cost.
“We are deeply concerned that the reduced growth rate shown in the second quarter suggests that patients in the UK are still losing out. Whilst industry is underwriting the medicines bill, patients are still not getting access to the right medicines at the right time. The UK already lags behind the rest of Europe in investing in medicines, based on the expenditure on pharmaceuticals per person. Today’s figures suggest that this could be worsening.
“This is bad news for patients – we urge the NHS to ensure the PPRS payments allow clinicians to prescribe the medicines that they believe are right for their patients.”
During 2014 industry paid a total of £310 million to the Department of Health under the PPRS and it is anticipating payments totalling £800 million for 2015.
The PPRS is a voluntary agreement negotiated by the ABPI on behalf of its members with the Department of Health. It came into effect on 1 January 2014 and runs for five years.Under the deal, the pharma industry agreed to keep NHS expenditure on branded medicines flat for two years and under 2% growth for the following three years. Some 134 companies, representing 93% of the UK, joined the agreement to make percentage payments based on any difference between allowed growth and actual growth in NHS expenditure on branded medicines.
Lilian Anekwe
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