Should Pharmaceutical Prices be Regulated?: The Strengths and Weaknesses of the British Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

by Elias Mossialos, Elias Mossialos, M.L. Burstall

Most governments regulate pharmaceutical prices, usually because they provide drugs through their own state health system rather than permitting supply in the marketplace. The principal mechanism of control in the UK is the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), which seeks to control drug prices by controlling the profits of firms which supply the NHS. However, the PPRS is only one of a range of measures used to control expenditures on drugs. Others include prescription charges, the exclusion of certain drugs from NHS prescription, and pressure on doctors to prescribe generics rather than brand-name drugs. The chief argument used to defend this degree of interference is that the pharmaceutical market is so different from other markets that competition would not work. This claim is challenged by some of the contributors to this book. The purpose of this publication is not to argue a particular case but to present a range of views about the PPRS which will be of interest not only to health care professionals but also to those interested in the effects of regulation on industry.

132 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997