According to InPharm, Lilly's UK director of corporate affairs, Rick Ascroft, says that the government's planned 'value-pricing' model will increase costs and add bureaucracy thus delaying availability of new drugs to patients. The UK government plans to replace the current PPRS pricing scheme with a value-based pricing (VBP) scheme – under which drug prices will be set according to the value medicines provide – in 2014.
In speaking to the Department of Health, Ascroft said, "While the goal of the system is to improve access, at least up front it may actually do the opposite." Likewise, speaking at the Wellards health conference in November, Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry director general Richard Barker said: “Value-based pricing is thoroughly logical, but not a magic bullet,” and warned that this system would not necessarily bring drug prices down.
Not a big surprise that Big Pharma would express concerns about a new policy that could help control pricing and upset the status quo. Like everything else, I suppose, the devil's in the details of implementation for which we all have some sympathy.
Posted by Bruce Lehr December 6th 2010.
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