£300 million savings on highest NHS drug spend

Simon Stevens has announced that the NHS is planning to save £300 million after negotiating deals with five manufacturers on low cost versions of the health service’s most costly drug.

NHS England’s chief executive said that the anticipated saving, the largest in NHS history from a single drug negotiation, should mean that hospitals pay around a quarter of the more than £400 million each year they currently spend on adalimumab, the health service’s most costly drug which is used to treat severe hospital treated conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis.

The deal has been unlocked by the introduction of ‘biosimilar’ versions of adalimumab which are double previous estimates, allowing NHS England, working with NHS Improvement, to near its ambition to cut £300 million from the nation’s annual medicines bill by 2021 through greater use of best value biological medicines a year early.

With more than 46,000 patients being prescribed the drug, NHS England has now accepted bids from four companies who manufacture biosimilar versions of the medicine – Amgen, Biogen, Mylan/Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin and Sandoz – as well as the manufacturer of the originator medicine, AbbVie. Biosimilar versions of adalimumab are expected to be available to NHS patients in December.

Furthermore, NHS England has issued guidance to NHS trusts and CCGs telling them that nine out of 10 new patients should be started on the best value biological medicine within three months of a biosimilar launch. At least 80 per cent of existing patients should be switched to the best value biological medicine within 12 months.

Stevens said: “As part of the NHS’s Long Term Plan we are ensuring every penny of extra investment is wisely spent. Harnessing the power of competition between drug companies, NHS England has now freed up hundreds of millions of pounds of savings to reinvest in patient care.  By working with patients and frontline clinicians we’ve now successfully negotiated the biggest ever set of savings on what was the NHS’s most costly drug.

“This is another example of how the smarter approach to biosimilar medicines in the UK and Europe gives patients and taxpayers a much better deal than they get in the United States.”