Drug firms sue watchdog over price cap on medicines

BRITISH pharmaceutical companies are suing the NHS’S drugs watchdog in an effort to prevent drug rationing.

The unprecedented legal action follows a new rule, in place since April, to permit delaying or restricting funding for medicines already judged good value for money by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) if they cost the health service more than £20million a year.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) is seeking a judicial review of the changes, saying they “contravene the fundamental right to access to cost-effective medicines”.

Nice estimates that this will affect one in five new medicines produced by the pharmaceutical industry each year and will impact most of the big drug manufacturers.

Mike Thompson, the ABPI chief executive, said: “These new arrangements will delay access to cost-effective medicines and deny treatments to patients suffering from rare diseases.

“After many months of raising concerns with Nice, NHS England and the Department of Health, and offering to work constructively on alternative proposals, we have applied to formally challenge these proposals in court.

“We believe this to be the right course of action due to the potential damage these changes will cause to NHS care and on our ability to research, develop and use new medicines here in the UK.”

It is expected the case will receive its first High Court hearing in the next few weeks. Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, described the £20million threshold as a “major hurdle” for cancer drugs.

She said: “We remain extremely concerned that the budget impact test could see NHS patients experience delays in accessing vital and cost-effective drugs.”

Both NHS England and Nice declined to comment.