BMJ  2008;336:1455 (28 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a464

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Government and industry reach new pricing deal to cut NHS drugs bill

¹ Financial Times

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The government and the drug industry this week reached an outline agreement on a new contract for drug prices in the United Kingdom over the next five years. It is expected that the deal will cut the annual £9bn (11bn; $18bn) drug bill in the UK’s health services by 5% by 2009.

The announcement follows a year of intense and tough negotiations after the Department of Health said it was unilaterally cancelling the current pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS) halfway through its planned duration (BMJ 2007;335:273 doi: 10.1136/bmj.39300.405822.DB).

The PPRS, which normally runs for five years, allows companies to set drug prices freely but caps their overall profits. The current scheme began in 2005, with a 7% price cut, and was supposed to end in 2010.

Under pressure to cut costs at a time when the growth in the NHS budget is slowing, the government sought a . . . [Full text of this article]

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