English prescription charges become political target
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The UK's governing Labour party is proposing to use savings from the national drugs budget to eliminate the prescription charges that some patients pay for medicines. Gordon Brown, the prime minister, told a party conference that cancer patients would no longer pay such charges from next year, currently £7.10 per prescription or £102.50 annually. "As over the next few years the national health service generates cash savings in its drugs budget we will plough savings back into abolishing charges for all patients with long-term conditions," he added. His plan would apply only to the NHS in England; the Welsh regional government has already abolished prescription charges and the Scottish Executive is phasing them out. Old people and others receiving social assistance in England are already exempted from paying the charges. The Labour party is much weaker than the Conservative opposition in opinion polls, but an election is not required until 2010.
You may also be interested in...
Cervarix link to UK girl's death "unlikely"
Local health authorities in Coventry, UK, say it is most unlikely that vaccination with GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix (human papillomavirus vaccine) was the cause of the death of a 14-year-old schoolgirl on September 28th.
Generic Topamax launched in European markets
Patents on Janssen-Cilag's (Johnson & Johnson) anti-epileptic Topamax/Epitomax (topiramate) expired in many European countries on September 25th, and generics companies are launching their own versions quickly.
NICE confirms limits on Alimta for lung cancer
Lilly's Alimta (pemetrexed) has been recommended as a first-line treatment for some patients in England and Wales with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in binding guidance for the national health service.