Access to Medicines

Thank you for contacting me about access to medicines.

I appreciate your concerns about global access to medicine, but I would like to assure you that the Government is committed to ensuring access to low cost and effective medicines, both in the UK and across the developing world.

The Government continues to work closely with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to control the cost of branded health service medicines. The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) supports the NHS by ensuring that the branded medicines bill stays within affordable limits. The Department of Health recognises the cost of research and development within the prices paid for NHS medicines. Company spend on research and development, marketing, production and distribution is transparent through a company's reporting accounts. The Department of Health will consider an application to an increase to a medicine's NHS list price from a PPRS scheme member only where there is significant new evidence to support a price increase application.

The latest agreed Price Regulation Scheme can be viewed at the following webpage: The latest agreed Price Regulation Scheme can be viewed at the following webpage: http://www.abpi.org.uk/media-centre/newsreleases/2017/Pages/Pharmaceutical-Price-Regulation-Scheme-PPRS-Payment-for-2017-20.01.17.aspx

Across the developing world, the Government has supported the provision of essential medicines and other health products through global partnerships such as the Medicines Patent Pool. Increased emphasis has been placed on research and development, as shown by the UK's leading investment in public-private Product Development Partnerships, which are designed to stimulate research and development were market incentives are insufficient.

While the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicine raises important points, the Department for International Development has noted that the panel could not however reach agreement on the best approach moving forwards. The Government is therefore of the view that the World Health Organisation, who have already undertaken significant research on the global barriers to medicine, will be best placed to consider which recommendations from the panel will add most value to our national strategy.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.