Society: displaying drug prices will not stop wastage
Displaying the price of drugs on packaging is unlikely to eradicate problems of medicines wastage, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Last week’s Public Accounts Committee report called for an increase in generic prescribing (PJ, 19 January, p38) and suggested that putting drug prices on packaging might reduce wastage.
Responding to the report, David Pruce, director of practice and quality improvement at the Society, acknowledged that some of the waste of medicines is associated with patients failing to take prescribed medicines. However, he argued: “The reasons for this are complex and unlikely to be addressed by simply putting the price of the medicine on the box. It often has more to do with how the patient sees their illness, whether they have side effects, etc.”
Mr Pruce said that pharmacists can contribute to a reduction of this waste through medicines use reviews — making sure patients are happy with their medicines, assessing whether they still need to be taking every medicine and by discussing any concerns.
But, he insisted, there are no quick fixes for reducing medicines wastage in the NHS.
The NHS Confederation has supported the idea of including drug prices on packaging. “When medication is dispensed for free or a charge not related to the cost, it is easy to forget how expensive treatments can be,” David Stout, director of the NHS Confederation’s primary care network, said. “Every pound wasted on a drug where an equally effective and cheaper alternative is available and clinically appropriate, is a pound that could be spent on another patient. If the public were made more aware of the cost of drugs to the NHS, this could result in less waste and make prescribed treatments more effective.”
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