Government should stay out of NHS medicines decisions, says ABPI
pharmafile | November 15, 2005 | News story | |Â Â Â
The ABPI has indicated its discomfort with government interference in NHS decision-making on medicines following the intervention of Patricia Hewitt in the latest row over Herceptin.
The health secretary personally intervened in the latest row over access to Herceptin between Staffordshire mother-of-four Elaine Barber and North Stoke PCT, forcing it to reverse its decision and allow treatment.
The North Stoke case follows hot on the heels of the similar case of Barbara Clark and Somerset Coast PCT, which also reversed its decision.
Both PCTs maintained that their respective changes of heart were based on each patient's 'exceptional circumstances' but few observers are in any doubt that Hewitt's involvement was the decisive factor in both instances.
While the UK pharmaceutical industry will be pleased that wider access to new medicines is now a top priority for the health secretary, ABPI director general Richard Barker has made clear his concern about the unprecedented intervention.
Dr Barker told Pharmafocus there was a clear process for reaching decisions on medicines in the NHS and that this must not be subject to political pressure.
"While welcoming the fact that senior politicians are listening to patient needs, there is a process for approving and evaluating medicines which has to take its course," Barker firmly stated.
The ABPI concerns echo those from the NHS Confederation, the health service manager's body, which says political pressure has put PCTs in an almost impossible position.
Director of policy Nigel Edwards said: "PCTs now find themselves under huge political pressure if they do not prescribe Herceptin for use in early stage breast cancer on the grounds of safety and cost-effectiveness, as has happened in a well-publicised case this week."
The health secretary's second intervention makes it almost certain that no other PCT will refuse women Herceptin treatment, but doubts persist about access to other new treatments.
The ABPI said it remained concerned about the fundamental problems which give rise to postcode prescribing in the first instance.
Deputy director general Andrew Curl said one of the most significant problems was that PCTs must currently fund new treatments from existing drug budgets, which inevitably led to regional variations in prioritising and funding for new medicines.
The ABPI has also called on the government to provide PCTs with additional money to fund the prescribing of new treatments.
"Our argument is that if new products are going through the system there should [also] be new money going through the system," Curl said.
The ABPI said NICE guidance on new treatments should be accompanied with extra funding allocated to all PCTs to prescribe those drugs which it has appraised.
Responding to the suggestion a Department of Health spokesperson said: "We do not believe in ring fencing money as we have devolved power to Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts which should spend in accordance with their needs."
She added that NICE guidance was introduced in a structured manner, which allowed PCTs to factor it into their budgets for the coming year.
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