The UK Plans Price Controls For Medicines
16 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 25th, 2010 // 7:07 am
The UK’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition has proposed moving to a so-called ‘value-based pricing’ model for medicines, which means drugmakers would no longer be free to set prices. At the same time, a reform of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which evaluates cost effectiveness, is also being considered, although details have not yet emerged.
The plan comes as other European governments raise drug prices in the face of huge deficits. The UK’s National Health Service, for instance, is predicted to face a shortfall of more than $28 billion, suggesting the willingness to set price controls will add significant pressure on the pharmaceutical industry sooner than later. The notion, however, isn’t news. Back in 2007, the UK Office of Fair Trading recommended that prices paid by the NHS should reflect therapeutic benefits.
“A price-control policy has not been fleshed out…but the fact that it has been mentioned in the context of NICE reform should be considered as the main - and perhaps inevitable - threat to the pharmaceutical industry in the UK going forward,” IHS Global Insight healthcare analyst Milena Izmirlieva, tells Reuters. “We are keen to begin talks with the government about how this can be achieved,” a spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry tells PharmaTimes, “but it’s not going to be an easy road.”
pharmavet
Whether drugs or any other commodity, price controls always lead to shortages, real or artificial until the controls are lifted. Consumers will be hurt because they will have to turn to a black market to meet their medical needs, and will wind up paying higher prices anyway. Mr. Cameron seems to be taking a page from President Nixon, whose attempts at price controls in the 1970’s did not work.
Jack Friday
Pharmavet
Bollocks!
Pip pip!
patrons99
Right on, Jack! Bollocks to Pharmavet!
We need price controls in this country, too. Drug prices are driving us to insolvency.
scully
Pharmavet:
Great sense of humor! I’m a pharma-vet too, and a clinician. Easy to say “no price controls” if one is healthy & employed. What if pt. is seriously ill through no fault of their own, then loses everything due to major illness/surgeries (say, 8 in 4 yrs)? What happens when the med she needs is $1,500+ a month after insurance? Her home industry won’t hire her back, she’s broke & destitute, plus still ill. Beloved Pharma, pretending to be so understanding of those with serious medical issues (just don’t come work for us b/c you’re too expensive to insure). $1500+/month is little compared to what some people have to pay, and they’re alrady penniless from being sick. You know, being on the clinician side, living comfortably, it was hard to imagine it could happen to me. How arrogant I was! If you’ve never lived it, you just don’t know.
pharmavet
Here’s the reality. Several major pharma companies have already threatened to pull out of several Western European countries if price controls are imposed. The actual imposition of such controls will make this threat a reality. The further reality is that Western Europe and North America are declining markets relative to the BRIC and other emerging market countries. Loss of revenue resulting from a Pharma pullout owing to imposition of European price controls will not materially affect these revenues in a major way. Pfizer once threatened to pull Lipitor out of Canada unless pricing restraints were lifted, and at the end of the day Pfizer got its price.
pharmavet
Scully, BTW your destitute patient could look into Patient Assistance Programs offered by all drug companies. As a clinician, and therefore patient advocate, you or your staff should be proactive in helping direct this poor individual to the right program that will defray the cost of her meds after insurance.
patrons99
OMG Vet - there are not enough hours in a day to do what you suggest. We were trained to diagnose and treat disease, not jump thru hoops to satisfy managed pharmacy and pharma’s need to make a killing at the expense of the average American. We need price controls on pharmaceuticals…worldwide. Otherwise, the tail will always wag the dog.
scully
Pharmavet,
Do you practice being condescending and nasty or does it just come naturally?
Pt. did participate in a Pharm PAP and received an award. PAP in question (Healthwell), is no longer an option; program is overburdened (economy) & no longer accessible to pt. I hear what you’re saying about across the board price controls. I’m not talking about Lipitor et al. I’m talking about crazy pricing for meds essential for very serious situations eg Onc, MS, etc. I was in Pharma for many years. I know what’s there. The patient is me (but you knew that already).
scully
Patrons,
I couldn’t have said it better: “making a killing at the expense of the average american”. Excellent choice of words.
Managed Care has strangled docs to the point where they simply don’t have time to do what they do best. I didn’t need anybody to track down resources for me, I know how. But what about most of the people who don’t know? Docs don’t have the time for this, and it’s not their job! (I’m not an MD, BTW.) Frankly, Pharmavet, I’m not sure you see the picture…
patrons99
Scully -
Neither of us should have to depend on charity from Pharma. Pharma’s PAP programs are brilliant! They are brilliant deceptions. They well know that practicing docs simply don’t have the time or resources. They well know that we don’t have the time to do prior authorization requests on each patient’s prescription drugs. It’s ALL a big deception by Pharma! They even promote the myth directly to the public on DTC ads.
Many of us are just hired help. We’ve got about 10-15 minutes per patient all day long, and the help of a single medical assistant, if we are lucky.
patrons99
Scully -
“PAP in question (Healthwell), is no longer an option; program is overburdened (economy) & no longer accessible to pt.”
The variations in coverage from insurer to insurer are legion and they frequently change with no rhyme or reason. They are frequently inaccessible to both patients and physicians. It’s a constantly moving target.
Your situation is different and I do not minimize the plight you faced. I don’t know a solution to the problem you faced, but I’m convinced that the solution does not lie in PAP programs.
patrons99
“We need price controls on pharmaceuticals…worldwide. Otherwise, the tail will always wag the dog.”
That analogy is certainly not the best. I was simply trying to express the thought that Pharma’s agenda is to promote the belief that “they [the public] need us [Pharma]“. It’s really all about control through fear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu_30-8ZlmQ
pharmavet
Perhaps I was misunderstood. I was referring to the PAP’s offered by the drug companies themselves, not charitable foundations. Drug companies are businesses, not charities, and the approximately $1 billion dollars that it takes to bring a new drug to market in 2010 has to be paid for somehow.
However, drug companies do have compassion for those less able to afford their medications. For example, Pfizer has a program whereby people who have lost their jobs in this economy can get either free meds or deeply discounted meds. Below are just two examples of company programs offered. These programs have nurse coordinators who will be helpful in guiding prospective clients to the right solution
Unfortunately only now are medical schools beginning to teach pharmacoeconomics. Practicing physicians should educate themselves as well. Many times when the doctor sends a patient out of the office with an Rx, that doctor has no idea of what the drug actually costs or the patien’s ability to pay. Some self-education in this area would help to obviate the need for price controls.
Some have even suggested that the government and NIH should be more involved in “cost-effective” drug development. Here’s my take on that: If the government were put in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years their would be a shortage of sand.
So=yahoo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Patient%20Assistance&utm_term=patient%20assistance%20program
http://pfizerhelpfulanswers.com/pages/misc/Default.aspx?source=yahoo&HBX_PK=s_help+with+prescriptions&HBX_OU=51&o=23060055|165867483|0
patrons99
Vet - The practice of medicine has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. It was once a widely respected and honorable profession. It’s been corrupted by Pharma. There are now many reasons why physicians are leaving primary care in droves. If this trend continues, many of us will soon receive our primary care either from mid-level practitioners, i.e. nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants, or from Pharma’s DTC ads.
pharmavet
Patrons, lets hope not. Check some of the other boards and you’ll see that some of the most egregious cases of incorrect prescribing leading to tragic consequences occured at the hands of Nurse Practiotioners, who in many states are licensed to practice at a level far over their training.
Joana Ramos
For the record, the pharmas’ own PAPs are just as limited and problematic as those brokered through assistance foundations. Many of the foundations are themselves funded, and often created by,the pharma companies.
PAPs are nothing by window dressing, a bone thrown to the public in large part to stave off complaints when Medicare Part D went into effect minus granting medicare the ability to negotiate durg prices, thanks to Big Pharma’s lobby power.
Anyone who has personal or professional experience with PAPs knows only too well how burdensome the application process is, how many patients are excluded, and how, increasingly, even patients who qualify as being among the “deserving poor” and jump through all the hoops, still don’t get help due to caps on availability. And BTW, the Pfizer aid program for those who have lost their jobs, is only for people who already had been taking the specific Pfizer drugs before they lost their insurance.