Website of the Department of Health
Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.
Page menu
You are here:
Introduction to pharmaceutical price regulation
-
Last modified date:18 October 2007
In very broad terms medicines may be categorised as branded or unbranded. Whereas unbranded medicines are not covered by patent protection, many branded medicines are.
Branded medicines
Branded medicines – medicines with a proprietary name – account for around 80% of the NHS drugs bill. The prices of branded medicines are controlled by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS).
The 2005 PPRS is the latest in a series of voluntary agreements reached between UK governments and the pharmaceutical industry. Previous agreements have been reached in 1957, 1961, 1964, 1969, 1972, 1978, 1986, 1993 and 1999. In each case these agreements have resulted from negotiations with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), as the representative body for those companies supplying the NHS with medicines.
In addition to the 2005 PPRS there are reserve statutory powers which may be used to control the prices of medicines.
Both the voluntary 2005 PPRS and the statutory scheme are administered by DH staff in Medicines, Pharmacy and Industry – Pricing & Supply branch.
Unbranded medicines
Generic medicines are medicines marketed without a brand name. Through the Drug Tariff, the Department of Health reimburses pharmacists the cost of dispensing generic medicines, which account for about four fifths of prescriptions by volume, but only around one fifth of the overall cost of medicines.
NHS spending on drugs
NHS spending on drugs
England only, 2005-06
|
Primary care |
Hospital and Community Health Services | Total |
|---|---|---|
|
7,235 |
2,764 |
9,999 |
NHS spending on drugs as % of total NHS expenditure
England only, 2005-06
| Total NHS expenditure (gross) est. (£m) | Total drugs (England) as % of total NHS |
|---|---|
|
78,327 |
12.76 |
Access keys
