Cheaper drugs save the NHS £324m in a year
THE NHS has saved hundreds of millions of pounds in just one year by switching some of the medicines it uses to cheaper products, officials have said.
NHS Improvement said that by switching 10 expensive medicines for better-value but equally effective alternatives, hospitals in England saved £324m in 2017-18.
The multi-million-pound savings have been made by switching from traditional medications to “biosimilars” – specially made drugs which are almost identical to treatments already on the market.
Drugs already switched include medications for health conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, some forms of cancer and inflammatory bowel conditions.
Further savings are expected next year as NHS trusts are being encouraged to move away from breast cancer drug Herceptin to use a biologically similar medicine.
NHS Improvement said almost 15 per cent of all NHS spending – some £17.4bn – was on medicines last year
Spending has been increasing by five per cent every year since 2010, partly because of new drugs coming to the market and due to more patients receiving medicines.
In 2017-18, NHS Improvement set a savings target of £250m for NHS trusts to switch medicines for 10 drugs.
But the regulator said that trusts exceeded the savings target by £74m.
A further £200m of savings are expected next year. About £100m of this will come from savings generated through using new biosimilar medicines as two further original biological medicines come off patent, NHS Improvement said.
New versions of the drug trastuzumab, which treats breast cancer, have been commissioned by NHS England as an alternative to the branded medicine Herceptin, it said.
While patients currently using Herceptin will be able to continue to do so, NHS Improvement said it was encouraging NHS trusts to move towards the cheaper biosimilar alternative of the medication.
Biosimilar versions of adalimumab, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis, are likely to be available alongside the original biological medicine after October 2018.
“As more people are diagnosed with long-term conditions such as arthritis and cancer, we must ensure that the NHS uses its resources as efficiently as possible to treat and care for them,” said Jeremy Marlow, NHS Improvement’s executive director of operational productivity.
“By delivering £324m in savings in a single year from switching to better value but equally effective and safe medicines, the NHS has been able to help more patients manage their conditions.
“There is more still to do, with £200m of additional savings to be achieved this year. We will also continue to find further opportunities to use medicines more effectively and make every penny of the NHS’s budget count.”