UK Health stops substitution
November 12, 2010
THIS week the United Kingdom
Department of Health announced
its decision to cease plans for the
generic substitutions of medicines
in primary care.
Had the plan been approved, it
would have allowed pharmacists to
replace branded drugs with generic
substitutions, a practice which is
not allowed in the UK.
“Doctors and other frontline
health professionals have always
based their prescribing decisions
on individual assessments of their
patients’ clinical circumstances
and will continue to do so,” the
Government said in a statement.
“Prescribers are free to prescribe
branded or generic medicines, and
nearly 85 per cent of prescriptions
written for patients are already for
generic medicines,” the statement
added.
The decision to quash plans to
all pharmacists to offer patients
generic substitutions follows an
extensive period of public
consultation.
According to the UK Health
Minister, Lord Howe, the
consultation stirred up concerns
from the public, patients and other
“interested parties” over granting
pharmacists substitution rights.
“It is also not clear whether the
proposals would have provided
substantial benefit to the NHS,
compared to the efforts of frontline
staff to implement them,” he said.
“We want patients to get the
drugs their doctors recommend at
the best price for the taxpayer.
“Patients should be reassured
that we are looking at more
appropriate ways of supporting the
use of generic medicines and, in
the long term, value-based pricing
will help to ensure we pay a price
for drugs which better reflects their
value,” he added.
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