£310 million paid in 2014 to underwrite the medicines bill

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the Department of Health have announced a fourth quarter payment from industry of £81million to underwrite the growth of the medicines bill under the 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS). This takes the total payment made by industry during 2014 to £310 million.

In 2014 the growth for the full year was 5.2% - less than the quarter three growth of 5.93%. Whilst this represents growth above the original joint forecast of 3.87%, when compared to the same quarter in 2013 it indicates growth is 3.2%. Increased use of branded medicines is encouraging but industry would still like to see equal access for patients to all medicines across care sectors.

Alison Clough, ABPI’s Executive Director Commercial, said: “The PPRS provides Government and the NHS with a unique opportunity to offer patients access to newer, more innovative medicines at minimal additional cost and today’s announcement demonstrates industry’s commitment to supporting the NHS in a time of austerity. However there is significant disparity of growth across the primary and secondary care settings as well as between different therapy areas. We are committed to working with all parties to ensure that the barriers to the use of new medicines in all care settings are removed and that NICE appropriately assesses  medicines so that ring-fenced funds for selected therapy areas are not needed.

“Industry agreed to the PPRS in order to improve the use of innovative medicines in the UK. We are working with the Department of Health, NHS England and government to ensure action in key areas such as changes to NICE’s decision making framework  and medicines optimisation to maximise the benefits of the PPRS so that patients can get the right medicine at the right time.”