
Pharma industry wary of UK drug pricing changes
pharmafile | March 17, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | ABPI, National Voices, PPRS, Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, Simon Jose, UK drug pricing, VBP, value-based pricing
The ABPI wants the current drug pricing system to remain, but has welcomed government proposals to take a broader view of the benefits medicines provide.
The UK pharma association was responding to the government consultation on plans to introduce a value-based pricing system, under which a drug’s price will be set according to the value it provides.
The reforms will see the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) scrapped by 2014, a move ABPI said would be premature given the thousands of existing drugs that would need to be re-priced.
Instead it wants value-based pricing (VPB) to be integrated with an evolved PPRS for existing products, and to “co-create” a new pricing system.
Speaking at the ABPI headquarters in London, president Simon Jose said he also wanted the role of R&D to be “fully reflected in the future system” and recognise medical breakthroughs are ‘rare’ and often the result of ‘step-by-step’ innovation.
He said this ‘progressive innovation’ could dramatically improve the lives of patients, but its “cumulative value only becomes apparent after some time”.
The ABPI says the NHS has a key role to play if access to medicines is to improve, and that the health service should help ensure “value-proven medicines” are used by clinicians for their patients.
The ABPI added that the National Commissioning Board, responsible for the new GP consortia, should be greatly involved in the development of VBP in order to secure medicines access and uptake across the NHS.
But Jose warned that VBP alone would not solve “broader issues of access and uptake” – this would need to be a collective effort by government and pharma.
The PPRS has operated since 1957 as a voluntary scheme between pharma and the government. It is negotiated every five years and regulates the overall profit pharma can make from their drugs, capping the maximum at just under 30%.
The industry is keen any future pricing system would follow this voluntary model, with room to re-negotiate terms every five years.
Also speaking at the ABPI headquarters was the head of patient group National Voices Jeremy Taylor, who voiced his concerns about how the new system would work in practice and whether lay voices would be heard in the decision-making process.
“We need more clarity and are keen to work with the government and industry to ensure the future system does not have unintended side effects,” he said.
Today is the final day of the three-month consultation process on VBP with a formal governmental response expected next month.
Ben Adams
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