Introducing High Cost Drugs In UK HAs

How one UK health authority manages the introduction of high-cost,low-volume drugs was discussed at a recent meeting in London, organized by the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (Marketletter March 24).

Gillian Todd, chief executive of the Bro Taf Health Authority in South Wales, described the protocol now in place at Bro Taf, which is being studied by other Welsh HAs. She stressed that it deals with the introduction of high-cost, low-volume drugs which probably will be prescribed initially by medical consultants working within National Health Service Trust hospitals, but not new, potentially high-volume, relatively expensive drugs to be prescribed mainly by general practitioners.

By definition, these high-cost drugs are designed to treat relatively rare and serious or life-threatening conditions where no other treatment option is available. Patient self-help groups are becoming increasingly effective in pressuring HAs to approve their use and identifying funding to enable their prescription. The cost of achieving what might be relatively minor quality of life or life expectancy gains is invariably very high, but it is understandable that patients, or families of those refused treatment on cost grounds, may resort to legal or political means to pressurize their HA, said Dr Todd.