New clozapine brand will reduce NHS costs
Special discount arrangements between the manufacturers of a new brand of clozapine tablets launched this week could provide considerable cost savings to the NHS.
Denzapine, launched this week by Denfleet Pharmaceuticals, has the same
list price as Clozaril (Novartis) but Denfleet has established a discount
system which can reduce the price by up to 50 per cent depending on the
number of patients treated and whether blood testing, necessary because
of the risk of agranulocytosis, is undertaken in local laboratories or
at the central Denfleet laboratory.
The Denfleet Clozapine Monitoring Service has been evaluated in pilot
studies involving about 2,000 people and meets requirements set out by
the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
A spokesman for Denfleet said: “In a trust treating 450 patients
a year, an annual saving of £650,000 could be made by switching
to Denzapine.” He added: “The launch of Denzapine means that
potentially twice as many patients can receive treatment for the same
cost to the NHS.”
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