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Is there a link between the number of monthly concessions and the amount of short dated stock on sale to pharmacies and dispensing doctors?
It seems relatively obvious to say that if there is a serious shortage there probably won’t be much stock of any form around, generic, brand, parallel import or short dated. This probably means that any short dated stock that was in the supply chain, even with very little time left before expiry, will be used up very quickly when there’s a major shortage.
How long does it take new generic launches to be added to Category M of the drug tariff?
Twice before WaveData to have looked into this subject only to find there is no link between product value and the delay in the introduction of Category M. However, time moves on, so we thought we’d repeat the analysis, partly because of a recent client request, and...
Pregabalin Prices Hotting Up
Finally, it really does feel like Summer. Looking out of the window at WaveData HQ the sky is blue and the sun is shining. It will be ice creams all round at lunch time today! It’s not just the temperature that's hotting up….. Dave Wallace at The Generics Bulletin...
Olanzapine 10mg 28 – one to watch
Whilst researching for the June edition of WaveData’s Bulletin, Editor Jackie Moss flagged up Olanzapine Tabs 10mg 28 as one to watch. After a reasonably long period of stability, with the average price not exceeding £0.80 since April 2022, we have seen a month on...
How does Category M affect Pharmacies and Manufacturers?
Prompted by a Client’s questions about Category M and the formula that goes behind it to drive Pharmacy profitability, we asked Charles Joynson, WaveData MD, to have a closer look at Category M to see if he can make any sense of it.
Brand reimbursement price increases and the effect on parallel imports
What happens when the department of health (DHSC) agree an increase in the reimbursement price of a brand (VPAS or VPAG)? How does this affect parallel imports?
Why is there a shortage of Clarithromycin?
Dr. Leyla Hannbeck, Chief Executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, has reported that pharmacies are completely out of stock of Clarithromycin. This antibiotic is used to treat children with whooping cough and pharmacies are now having to turn patients away or ask doctors to prescribe alternative antibiotics.
Today we decided to take a look at the price of Ozempic.
The current Ozempic shortage has been driven by the increase in demand as the drug is being used to treat obese patients for long term weight management, in addition to the original group of type 2 diabetes patients.
Do Pharmacies and Dispensing Doctors always get good deals on parallel imports?
The vast majority of discounts available to Pharmacist and Dispensing Doctors are between 0% and 19.9%, with the average at 11%.
Salbutamol Nebuliser Liquid Unit Dose Vials 2.5mg/2.5ml 20 shortage hits hospitals, pharmacies, and surgeries
Hospitals have been advised to place urgent orders and not wait for supplies to be exhausted. There is no real alternative to Salbutamol and it’s a critical part of daily medicine and risks serious harm to patience if supply issues are not resolved quickly. The 2.5 mg pack of this critical medicine has been available for just under £2 for a very long period of at least 10 years. However, between June 2017 and July 2018 the average market price fell to £1.40. At this point manufacturers may have decided that this product was not profitable in the long-term and withdrew some of their manufacturing capability.
Charles Joynson, WaveData MD, analyses the concessions granted and their relationship with the drug tariff price.
Concessions are granted when products are in short supply and their prices are starting to rise. It would seem sensible to assume that products with low reimbursement prices are more likely to experience supply difficulties simply because the manufacturer cannot make any money out of them.
In pharma try not to scare the horses!
Charles Joynson, WaveData MD, continues to research ADHD drug pricing trends and activity.
For much of its history, Dexamfetamine Tabs 5mg 28 maintained a price sufficient for manufacturers to be sustainable and for pharmacies to be profitable.
ADHD Drug Shortages and Methylphenidate long term price trends
An increase in global demand due to a rapid rise in the number of ADHD diagnoses, manufacturing issues and delays in distribution are the main reasons for the shortages, say the DHSC. But, what about profitability? Is the market still attractive and generating enough profit for manufacturers to encourage them to compete? Charles Joynson, WaveData MD, investigates the long term price trends of Methylphenidate Tabs 10mg 30s.
Supply problems with Oxcarbazepine impacting patients with epilepsy
In Parliament his month questions were posed to Andrew Stephenson, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care by Peter Grant MP (SNP). He asked ‘What steps the Department is taking to ensure that there is an adequate supply of Oxcarbazepine for patients with epilepsy.’
Tough Times for Ezetimbe Tabs 10mg 28
The number of times this product has been granted a concession since launch in April 2018 is 22. This is 22 months out of 70 in total, which means that it has had a concession in one in three months.
Pharmacy First and Impetigo
The newly launched Pharmacy First scheme includes impetigo in its list of conditions which pharmacies can treat and prescribe for. The main recommended cream for children with impetigo is Mupirocin Ointment Fortunately, this medication is freely available from suppliers for pharmacies to prescribe and dispense, with over eight wholesalers selling it in January.
How generous are branded respiratory manufacturers with discounts?
WaveData conducted a comparison of the average market prices given to accounts (pharmacies and dispensing doctors) by respiratory product manufacturers.
Pharmacy First and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
The newly launched NHS Pharmacy First service recommends that uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women be treated with antibiotics by pharmacies. However, are these critical products profitable for pharmacies to buy and dispense?
How to create a shortage…….
We were chatting about shortages with some peers last week at the HDA conference. This got us playing devil’s advocate, how would we create a shortage?
Firstly, we’d cut the reimbursement price of a commonly used generic product to a fraction of its former value. That would do the trick quite nicely, provided it was done quickly. It might help if this price cut happened just before the CPHI conference which last year was in late October in Barcelona. This would give manufacturers a chance to take the product off their requirements list and for contract manufacturers to remove it from theirs. Then make another even more drastic cut to the reimbursement price shortly after the conference to make sure that any foolishly optimistic manufacturers took it off their lists and incurred legal costs at the same time.
VPAG and Older Medicines
The Department of Health and Social Care DHSC has for many years being receiving a rebate from the manufacturers of branded prescribed drugs. This is intended to keep a cap on the growth in the medicines bill whilst allowing manufacturers to make sufficient profits to keep them supplying the NHS.
Previous schemes have included PPRS (prescription price regulatory scheme) which ran until the end of 2013 and VPAS (voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access) which ran from 2014 till the end of 2023. These were both voluntary, but there are and were statutory schemes which manufacturers are entered into if they do not wish to join a voluntary scheme.
For the 2024 to 2028 VPAG scheme, medicines are classed as older if there is now more than 12 years since the first marketing authorisation for the active substance. These older medicines have two rebates. The first is the 10% basic rebate, and the second is the % top-up which can be up to 25%. Therefore ‘older medicines’ includes both the originator and follow-on branded generic medicines.
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