Cost-saving medicines not compromising care

NHS Improvement has reassured patients that better value biosimilar and generic medicines that are being introduced are just as safe and effective as their more expensive alternatives.

The NHS saved £324 million last financial year by switching from using 10 expensive medicines to better value and equally effective alternatives, and seek to make further savings of £200 million this financial year. Approximately £100 million of this will come from savings generated through using new biosimilar medicines as two further original biological medicines come off patent.

The NHS spent £17.4 billion on medicines in 2016-17, approximately 15 per cent of NHS spending, and has seen spending increase by five per cent every year since 2010 due to the availability of new, more complex and innovative drugs and more patients receiving effective care with medicines.

Biosimilar rituximab, which treats cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, became available in 2017 and has delivered the NHS £50 million in savings so far, while a cheaper alternative to the breast cancer drug Herceptin has recently been given approval for NHS use.

Jeremy Marlow, executive director of Operational Productivity at NHS Improvement, said: “As more people are diagnosed with long term conditions, such as arthritis and cancer, we must ensure the NHS uses its resources as efficiently as possible to treat and care for them.

“By delivering £324 million in savings in a single year from switching to better value but equally effective and safe medicines, the NHS has been able to help more patients manage their conditions. There is more still to do, with £200 million of additional savings to be achieved this year. We will also continue to find further opportunities to use medicines more effectively and make every penny of the NHS’s budget count.”

Health Minister Steve Barclay added: “We want to support the NHS to make sure every penny is spent effectively. For too long vital funds have been used to buy expensive medicines instead of equally effective and better value alternatives. Under our long-term plan for the NHS, which will see us increase funding by an average 3.4 per cent per year, we need to do better. With over £300 million saved and potentially more savings to come, this work is a perfect demonstration of the NHS using taxpayers’ money wisely whilst still delivering patients with the outstanding care that they need.”