UK's NHS drug price proposals "dangerous"

Proposals by the UK's Office of Fair Trading to reform the system for determining prices paid by the UK's National Health Service for drugs have been branded "dangerous and anti-innovative" by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. The main change is a switch to a "value-based pricing" mechanism for drugs to be determined by comparisons of relative cost and benefit to the NHS, which Richard Barker, the ABPI's director general, described as difficult to implement in practice.

The ABPI is reported by the Financial Times to be "intensifying" its lobbying against the OFT proposals, which were published in February (Marketletter February 26).

Richard Ley, an ABPI spokesman, told the Marketletter that the industry body was lobbing against some of the OFT's proposals, although the government agency's stated aim "to stimulate debate has clearly been successful" and that some ideas had emerged that are "interesting to explore further."