Money grabbing pharmaceutical companies

[Heyesey 11]

I know the NHS isn't making a profit overall but I object to paying so much for drugs when they are so cheap and I require them to potentially keep me alive..

 

 

The alternative is to make NHS prescription charges reflect the cost of the drugs.

 

I'm sure transplant patients would love that, when they have to cough up £3,000 a month for their Prograf...

[medusa 16]

For anybody needing more than 2 items a month, if you have to pay for your prescriptions, please investigate the cost effectiveness of getting a prescription prepayment card.

 

At the moment, prepayment is £34.65 for a 4 month prepayment, or £95.30 for a years' prepayment, which works as very good value if you have multiple prescriptions for regular medicines.

 

linky

 

In my opinion, all that the £6.75 charge has done is to successfully camouflage the real cost of medicines, so that the public at large are genuinely unaware that much of the medication that is prescribed in this country actually costs a staggering amount of money.

 

This is not down to the company that manufactures it raking in lots of profit, but down to a fair price (set by regulatory bodies) in order to pay for the development costs of the drug during the few years that the new drug patent applies after the drug is released onto the market.

 

Without this patent and pricing system the result would simply be that new drugs would simply not be developed, since the money to pay for the development must come from somewhere (and as someone has already said, when you look at the costs of running clinical trials, you understand quite how large that cost is).

[blip 10]

Aren't we lucky to have the National Health Service?

I've not had to use it much (yet) and no doubt I've paid lots for it (thus far) but I think it's great!

I also look forward to getting old and decrepit, not paying for the NHS but using it lots!

[astronaut77 10]

In most circumstances the price of the drug you are prescribed is far more expensive than £6.75

The NHS heavily subsidises prescriptions - we are much better off paying a fixed fee rather than the actual price of the drug.

In the USA, Australia etc, they pay for the cost of the drug no matter what it is, and in most cases it is far more expensive than £6.75

The NHS certainly doesn't make any profit from prescriptions - in fact far from it.

[Twiglet 10]

The alternative is to make NHS prescription charges reflect the cost of the drugs.

 

I'm sure transplant patients would love that, when they have to cough up £3,000 a month for their Prograf...

The alternative is for pharmacies and/or GPs to be more honest about admitting when you can get a drug far cheaper on a private prescription.

[lizzmobile 11]

Is it not available OTC Twiglet?

 

I guess that's a bit of a dumb question...

[Twiglet 10]

Is it not available OTC Twiglet?

 

I guess that's a bit of a dumb question...

 

Nope it's beta blockers so definitely not an OTC job Nothing's a dumb question if you had no way of knowing what it was

[Cyclone 10]

Just had a private consultation today at BIRKDALE in Rotherham.The doctor gave me a private prescription for my "usual" meds which I normally get from my gp.I took it to the chemist and they wanted to charge me nearly 70 quid for an inhaler,some anti-biotics and some drops.They told me that this is how much they actually cost without an nhs prescription.My Seritide inhaler would have cost me about £40 on its own.I just feel that these companies are charging a little over the odds for medication.What do you think?

 

what are you basing your feeling on? Do you have any idea of how much the drugs cost to manufacture? Do you know how many billions went into R&D before those drugs were developed or how many funded studies were required before these drugs were approved for human use?

 

I might making unwarranted assumptions, but I'd guess that you have no idea of the real costs involved in bringing those drugs to market and are just shocked that something you were expecting to be £5.95 was suddenly £40.

[Heyesey 11]

The alternative is for pharmacies and/or GPs to be more honest about admitting when you can get a drug far cheaper on a private prescription.

 

Why should the NHS tell you to go private? That makes no sense at all.

[medusa 16]

There are a number of GPs who feel it inappropriate for the NHS to charge the standard £6.75 fee when they know that the drugs for which they are writing a prescription cost only a few pence.

 

They may then choose to offer the patient a private prescription instead.

[Twiglet 10]

Why should the NHS tell you to go private? That makes no sense at all.

 

Because you aren't 'going private'. You still get your normal prescription from your normal GP, it doesn't cost anything and you pay less at the pharmacy. I never suggested it's entirely the GP's responsibility either, I think it's the pharmacist who should inform you if you could get your drugs cheaper on a private prescription as they are the ones who usually know.

[Heyesey 11]

Because you aren't 'going private'. You still get your normal prescription from your normal GP, it doesn't cost anything and you pay less at the pharmacy. I never suggested it's entirely the GP's responsibility either, I think it's the pharmacist who should inform you if you could get your drugs cheaper on a private prescription as they are the ones who usually know.

 

Sorry, I'm still not with you. Do you think there should be a fixed charge for NHS prescriptions, or do you think they should be charged at cost?

 

Or - I just thought of a third option - do you think that it should be whichever one costs you less money at the time, without any concern for the overall budget of the NHS?