UK office of Fair Trading concludes the NHS is "paying too much for drugs"

After some 18 months' of deliberation, the UK's Office of Fair Trading has recommended that the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme - which sets prices by means of controlling drugmakers' profits - should be reformed to deliver better value for money on the National Health Service's spending on drugs and to focus business investment that has the greatest benefits for patients.

Pointing out that the NHS spends around L8.0 billion ($15.58 billion) a year on branded prescription medicines, the OFT says it has identified a number of drugs where prices are significantly out of line with patient benefits. These include cholesterol-lowerers, blood pressure and gastrointestinal drugs. Specifically, it claims, some drugs currently prescribed in large volumes are up to 10 times more expensive than substitute treatments that deliver very similar benefits to patients.

Could save L500M of spending