New law to control prices of generic drugs

The UK parliament has passed new legislation to close a loophole that allowed companies to raise the prices of unbranded generic drugs.

The Health Services Medicinal Supplies (Costs) Act will give the government the power to control the prices of generic drugs if it believed excessive prices were being charged. For unbranded generic drugs, the government had relied on the market to keep prices down.

A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report said that average generic drug prices in the UK are the …