News February 2007
Watchdog Questions Drug Prices
The NHS is wasting at least £640m a year by overpaying the
major pharmaceutical companies for drugs, the Office of Fair Trading
said yesterday.
The finding came in a report which urged an overhaul in the way
that drug companies charge the NHS for treatments. In some cases
the OFT found branded drugs such as statins being prescribed that
were 10 times more expensive than generic alternatives that delivered
essentially the same benefits to patients.
Switching to a generic instead of the Pfizer cholesterol treatment
Lipitor could have saved the NHS £350m in 2005 alone, the
report said.
It could have saved £28m by switching to a generic instead
of paying for the AstraZeneca drug Crestor and a further £11m
if it had bought a generic
drug instead of Pfizer's high blood pressure treatment Cardura
XL. Between 2000 and 2005 the NHS drugs bill grew at an average
annual rate of 7.3%. The report identified at least £575m
in possible savings where generic alternatives existed to branded
drugs in certain categories.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry rejected
the claim that the NHS was paying too much. The organisation said
prices had fallen by 21% in real terms over the past decade and
represented "excellent value for money".
Source http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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