ABPI takes stand against medicine's money wasting middle-men

The role of brokers in the medicine transactional process has been denounced by Stephen Whitehead, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI, stating that brokers are draining funds that could be spent on medical research.

Increasingly, third party suppliers and consultancies are being relied upon in order to broker discussions and progress tendering for medicines in both primary and secondary care. It is also important to note that tendering in primary care is not permitted under the current Prescription Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), which states: ‘The UK health departments do not support additional or alternative initiatives by health authorities in respect of the pricing of such supplies [branded prescription medicines] in primary care.

Mr Whitehead said: “Brokers are draining money from the health care system - in the long term they will save the NHS [National Health Service] far less than they will cost, and they are a huge drain on funds for the pharmaceutical industry too. Not only is the money lost to brokers eating into medical research funding by the industry, but brokers are also a barrier to the industry-NHS partnerships and the joint working relationships that will lead to greater NHS savings.”