The UK government wishes to have “joined up” policies to integrate areas such as health and social care. Although many of these policies impinge on pharmaceuticals (box below), there is no coherent, integrated, national pharmaceutical policy. As a result, some policies affecting pharmaceuticals seem to contradict or undermine others. Pharmaceuticals raise issues which are not evident in other areas of health provision:

• Pharmaceuticals are regulated by law for safety, efficacy, and quality

• Drugs have become increasingly expensive, both individually and in total, but the value derived from some of this expenditure is open to question

• Drugs are promoted actively by a powerful industry that is also a major employer and exporter in the United Kingdom

• Drugs are affected by policies in almost every area of health care.

We believe that there should be a single, clear policy on pharmaceuticals that unifies the various strands of relevant existing policies. In this article we try to describe what such a policy might look like.