An unprecedented attack on drug companies’ prices by the head of England’s drug approvals body shows that it is jockeying for a key role in the forthcoming overhaul of drug pricing, observers say.

Michael Rawlins, who chairs the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), has criticised the industry for profiteering. In an interview in The Observer (www.guardian.co.uk, 17 Aug, “Health chief attacks drug giants over huge profits”) he said that drug companies aimed for “double-digit growth year on year … not least because their senior management’s earnings are related to the share price.”

“All these perverse incentives drive the price up,” he …