The UK ’s National Health Service (NHS)
looks set to cut its spending on new medicines in real terms between 2011 and
2015, according to a new report, although spending on drugs as a whole will
rise by around 1.3 per cent over the period. The report - which was carried out
by the Office of Health Economics on behalf of the Association of the British
Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) - predicts that the total amount spent on
medicines annually by the NHS will rise from 3.5 per cent between 2007 and 2011
to 3.7 per cent per year up to 2015. However, this increase will mainly be
driven by increased uptake of generic drugs, with upcoming patent expiries
saving the NHS £3.4bn over the next three years, and sales growth for branded
drugs will be relatively flat. By 2015 newer products - ie those launched
between 2012 and 2015 - will account for less than 2 per cent of NHS spending,
according to the OHE. In 2011, the NHS spent £13.6bn on drugs - including £10bn
on branded medicines - accounting for 9.6 per cent of its total budget. By
2015, the spend will be £15.6bn, of which around £11bn will be on branded drugs
depending on the levels of discounts offered by industry, equivalent to around
7 per cent of the total NHS budget. "I am deeply concerned that these
savings are not being reinvested back into the system because these figures show
our spending on the newest and most advanced medicines is declining in real
terms," commented ABPI chief executive Stephen Whitehead. "We have to
stop thinking of medicines as a cost and see them for what they are - an
investment," he added, noting that this investment is in medical research,
reduced hospital stays and GP visits, the UK economy and people's health. The
consequence of a lack of investment can be seen by the slow speed at which UK patients get access to new medicines compared
to their peers in Europe , said the ABPI. The
organisation points out that the most recent Pharmaceutical Price Regulation
Scheme (PPRS) report to parliament, published in February, 2012, found that the
UK
has the lowest medicine prices compared with a wide range of developed
countries. Published: 04/07/2012
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