UK's NHS could save L200M on drugs

The UK's National Audit Office has produced "a constructive report" into prescribing costs in National Health Service primary care, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has reported.

The NAO report identified about L200.0 million ($396.1 million) of savings that could be made if all doctors made cheaper prescribing decisions. The ABPI noted that this estimate was in line with that of the Office of Fair Trading's study earlier this year (Marketletter May 7) and which are already well on course to being achieved.

"We support the NHS' need to get best value for money from medicines and its other services," said David Fisher, the ABPI's commercial director. However, he insisted that "the needs of patients must not be sidelined in the search to save money. While cheaper versions of some medicines may well be appropriate for many patients, they are not always so - and doctors must be supported in looking at the true 'value' an individual medicine can bring, and not simply its cost."