UK Taxpayers Suffer As Pharma Commits 'Highway Robbery'?

A pricing scandal is unfolding in the UK, where drugmakers are being accused of exploiting a loophole that allegedly is costing the National Health Service – and taxpayers – tens of millions each year. And while the maneuver is legal, the British Medical Association is charging the pharmaceutical industry is committing ‘highway robbery,’ according to The Independent. Basically, the issue is that brand-name drugmakers sell older medicines, which no longer have patent protection, to other drugmakers. The medications are then renamed and sold to the NHS at a much higher price because the drug is not covered by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. The price of an epilepsy drug rose 24 times and a schizophrenia treatment was marked up 607 percent. “This is the drug companies flipping the drugs over to another firm for personal gain and milking the NHS for more money,” Peter Holden, a senior member of the British Medical Association, tells the paper. “But the patient is inconvenienced because we may have to find another treatment.” And he pointed to the Epanutin epilepsy drug, which was formerly sold by Pfizer (PFE), as an example. In this case, the drug was sold to Flynn Pharma and renamed Phenytoin, but shortly after, the price was increased by 2,385 percent, and the NHS will be forced to spend an additional $75 million, according to estimates. “The epilepsy drug is particularly bad because it involves huge numbers of patients,” Bill Beeby, who chairs t...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs