The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has called for the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) to...
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has called for the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) to scrap its five-year negotiation review of the cost of drugs.
This was due to a number of problems, including difficulties in measuring profits made from NHS sales by multinational firms and the distortions the scheme can have on cost control.
Until now, the PPRS has attempted to achieve value for money for the sale of branded drugs to the NHS by limiting the profits that companies can make on these sales. In the event that profits rise too high or too low, prices can be adjusted.
The OFT said it wanted to see the adoption of what it calls 'value-based' pricing. This would mean companies could charge higher prices for those drugs that have delivered the greatest health benefits to patients.
