Branded generics should be treated as true generics
“Standard” branded generics should be treated in all respects as true generics, the Company Chemists Association, the National Pharmaceutical Association and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have all said in their responses to the Department of Health’s consultation on the reimbursement of branded generic medicines.
The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme that started earlier this
year stated that, subject to public consultation, standard branded generics
would no longer be covered by the PPRS. The DoH defines standard branded
generic medicines as out-of-patent products which have had a brand name
applied, but which are not made by the originator company and are comparable
to a readily available true generic.
In its public consultation, the DoH proposed that, once outside the PPRS,
the future reimbursement price for standard branded generics should be
the lesser of either the Drug Tariff price of the comparable generic
or the list price of the standard branded generic (PJ, 29 January, p101).
The CCA, NPA and PSNC all oppose this suggestion and argue that there
should only be two tariff prices for any medicine — the true originator
brand and the generic.
The CCA suggests that standard branded generics should either be added
to Schedule 1 of the NHS Regulations 2004 (“blacklisted”)
or treated as pure generics. Both the NPA and the PSNC argue that standard
branded generics should be treated as true generics and that only the
brand originator product should be given a separate listing in the Drug
Tariff. |
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