Study finds overprescription of brand-name drugs in U.K. costs NHS $400 million per year

LONDON According to a new study by Britain’s Committee of Public Accounts, appointed by Parliament to examine the accounts of funds appropriated by the government body, brand-name medicines are overprescribed, as stated in many reports.

Prescription costs in England are capped at 6.65 pounds (US$13.30); regardless of whether a prescription is a brand or a generic, the consumer pays the same amount and the National Health Service pays the difference. As a result of physicians prescribing branded medicines over cost-saving generics, the NHS is spending almost $400 million per year more than it would otherwise. The report blamed pharmaceutical companies with having more of an advantage over physician’s decisions in prescribing then the NHS does.

The British Medical Association, who also felt the hit from the report fired back by stating, “Citing how much pharmaceutical companies spend is not evidence of general practitioners being swayed by their advertising. In a free and open market general practitioners sift the masses of data they receive from journals, primary care trusts prescribing advisers, experts, postgraduate education and pharmaceutical companies.” And the BMA made the important point that, while one in five of the 1000 doctors surveyed by the National Audit Office felt more swayed by industry marketing, it also highlighted that four out of five general practitioners rely on official NHS sources for their prescribing information.

David Stout, director of the PCT Network which represents the majority of primary care trusts, noted that patients as well as physicians should be given information about cost-saving generics. “Every pound wasted on a drug where an equally effective and cheaper alternative is available and clinically appropriate, is a pound that could be spent on another patient.”

The key is getting prescribers on board because if patients have no incentive to switch they certainly won’t want to. Should the public start moving away from brand-names, it could mean a considerable windfall for the generic drug companies.