Is the NHS Risking Patient Access to Life-Saving Medications?

Patients in the NHS could be left behind in the race for innovative treatments, as Novartis issues a stark warning about the high costs of new drugs. After negotiations between Health Secretary Wes Streeting and pharmaceutical firms broke down, Novartis’s UK boss, Johan Kahlstrom, stated that the UK’s drug pricing policies are making it “largely uninvestable” for major pharmaceutical companies.

The company highlighted that their inability to launch several new medicines in the UK is a direct result of outdated assessment methods for drug value, which have not evolved for nearly 25 years. Currently, the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) evaluates new drugs based on a cost-effectiveness threshold known as QALY—which has essentially remained stagnant since 1999. Novartis argues that the cost-effectiveness limits are poorly aligned with today’s economic realities, as inflation has not been considered in the thresholds.

Further complicating matters, the expected 15% rebate rate that pharmaceutical companies would pay to the UK government on sales above a certain threshold unexpectedly skyrocketed to 23.5%. This punitive financial environment is seen by Novartis as a deterrent against significant investment in the UK’s pharmaceutical landscape, potentially leading to reduced accessibility for patients compared to other European nations like Germany and France.

In response, Streeting expressed his intent to prevent drug companies from exploiting taxpayers, outlining a proposed deal aimed at fostering a more supportive environment for pharmaceutical investments, which included reducing future payment rates by approximately £1 billion over three years for new drugs. However, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) remarked that the incentives are not sufficient and that without updating the current assessment methods, the UK will continue to drop in international ranks regarding research, investment, and patient access to new medicines.

As the battle over drug pricing and accessibility continues, concerns rise that UK patients will miss out on cutting-edge treatments, with companies like Gilead Sciences opting not to submit products for evaluation due to what they perceive as undervaluation of their medicines in the UK market. This ongoing discord raises fundamental questions about the future of medical innovation in the UK and its impact on patient health.