Wed, 17 Nov 2010
No5 barrister David Lock is quoted in this week’s edition of the British Medical Journal in connection with the controversy over the pricing of rare drugs, which has seen 20 leading doctors write in protest to the Prime Minister about the conduct of drug companies.
Drug companies are attempting to persuade the NHS to prescribe expensive drugs which have an EU “marketing authorisation” in preference to much cheaper, generic drugs which have a similar clinical effect but have no marketing authorisation.
David has given advice to the NHS, which the NHS then chose to publish, that it would be likely to be lawful for NHS bodies to refuse to allow doctors to prescribe branded drug where there is a generic drug which delivers similar clinical outcomes at a lower cost.
