The UK government has published a position paper on the long-termsupply and reimbursement of generic drugs for the National Health Service, with proposals for securing better value for money for the Service and ensuring a reliable supply of drugs for patients.
The main options put forward in the paper are: - reform of the present arrangements so that the price the NHS pays for generics is based on the price at which they are sold by the manufacturer, plus an amount for the wholesale distributor; and - changing the system of purchasing, so that instead of generics being bought by community pharmacists and being reimbursed by the NHS, the Service would buy them centrally through a system of competitive tendering, using its purchasing muscle.
Announcing the initiative, Health Minister Lord Philip Hunt noted that, in 1999, the NHS had been hit by "severe turbulence" in the generics market. To protect the NHS from high prices, a maximum price scheme was put in place last August (Marketletters May 1and July 17, 2000), which he said has saved L240 million ($340.7 million) in 2000-01 compared to price levels before this action was taken.
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