DH and ABPI ‘committed’ to agreeing new pricing system

The DH and the ABPI aim to achieve a new pricing system for branded medicines that reduces bureaucracy whilst being affordable, sustaining and responsive to the future needs of the NHS.

A joint statement from the two said that negotiations to replace the existing Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) will begin next month and will include value-based pricing (VBP).

The two insist they are “committed” to reaching a new agreement that gives “patients better access to the most effective medicines”.

The new pricing scheme will cover the majority of branded drugs which will enter the market before 2014. It will operate under a similar but “evolved framework” to the existing PPRS.

However, the Government and the ABPI believe it is “important” for the new arrangement to provide “stability and predictability in the new framework” to ensure the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry manage financial and investment plans.

The statement said it is “vitally important” to continue the supply of innovative treatments to NHS patients and the ABPI “welcomes” value-based pricing alongside a renewed PPRS to “support this goal”.

Therefore, the statement said, VBP will be introduced in a “planned and progressive way” to focus on new medicines entering the market from 1 January 2014.

The Government aims to ensure the assessment of new medication is conducted as fully and early as possible for pharmaceutical companies to “predict well in advance” how products will “fare”.

The updated PPRS will also include a “statutory scheme” for companies that choose not to participate in the voluntary agreement.