Drug Companies In Great Britain: Ease Up, Won't You?

The tension between drug companies and regulatory agencies is constant. It would be there even if no one cared a bit what drugs cost, because you can talk about safety and efficacy without ever mentioning a price. But since we do care about drug prices, and are coming to care more about them with every passing month, the tension is higher than ever. The questions aren't just "Is this drug safe?" or "Is this drug efficacious", or even "Is this drug relatively safe compared to its level of efficacy". You get into the really hard ones like "Is this drug's level of efficacy worth its price?" Great Britain's NICE is at the forefront of these arguments, and some of the largest drug companies have recently been arguing back. In a public letter, they're calling on the Prime Minister to do something about the way the NICE approves new compounds: We all accept there are increasing pressures on NHS spending, but there is a prevailing myth that medicines are expensive. In fact, spend on medicines was less than 10pc of total NHS expenditure in 2011. Britain pays less for its medicines than almost anywhere else in Europe. Over £7bn has already been saved from the medicines bill. No other part of the NHS is saving the taxpayer money on such a scale. Medicines should not just be seen as a cost. They are an investment and an essential part of improving patient outcomes. Yet, fewer than one in three medicines have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NI...
Source: In the Pipeline - Category: Chemists Tags: Business and Markets Source Type: blogs