BRITISH pharmaceutical companies, via their peak body, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), have launched legal action against the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in an effort to prevent drug rationing purely on a cost basis.
Drugs estimated to cost the UK NHS more than 20m a year would be rationed under the proposal, with the ABPI saying this would contravene "the fundamental right to access cost-effective medicines".
NICE estimates that this will affect one in five new medicines each year impacting most major drug manufacturers, and especially cancer patients.
The NHS experienced a deficit of more than 2.45b in 2015-16.
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