UK PPRS Talks "Will Be Tough:" Health Sec

The forthcoming negotiations on the Pharmaceutical Price RegulationScheme will be tough, UK Health Health Secretary Frank Dobson has said.

He told the British Pharmaceutical Conference last week that as part of the government's commitment to modernizing health care, it will not only be seeking to contain the National Health Service drugs bill but also to re-focus attention on appropriate and effective prescribing, which will mean looking at the overall benefits as well as the costs of drug treatment.

This will require a "new and more informative approach" from the drug companies, he said. In future, the NHS will be looking for further and better particulars about the effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, of drugs. It will also want to know how best to target the new drugs on the patients who will benefit most.