Branded medicines: time for a reset?

For many years the landscape for the pricing of branded medicines in the UK was stable. This no longer appears to be the case.

In recent articles we have looked at the UK's two schemes that control the NHS's costs for purchasing branded medicines and how they are operating to counteract rapidly increasing NHS spending. Next year the repayments that pharmaceutical companies must make to the NHS under both schemes are set to jump dramatically.

Next year is also the final year of the current voluntary scheme (VPAS). In 2024 a replacement voluntary scheme, agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), will be introduced. Industry will hope that the ABPI can secure an increase in the allowable growth rate under the next voluntary scheme, otherwise what amounts to a significant tax on growth will become the new normal.