Over the last ten years Quetiapine Tabs 100mg 60 has had 4 sets of concessions, making it a risky product to make and distribute. WaveData wanted to find the ‘trigger’ prices which forced manufacturers out of the market due to unprofitability. The first of these was £1.35 immediately before the first concession was announced. The second was £6.18, the third £1.94 and the fourth £1.60. We can discount the second of these as it was really a continuation of the first period of shortage, but the three remaining low points £1.35, £1.94 and £1.60 suggest that prices below £2.00 put this product at risk of supplier withdrawal , concession and shortage.
The periods when prices were below £2.00 include Jan 2016 to May 2017 (immediately before the first price spike and concession June to Nov 2017), and Nov 2022 to Dec 2024, which preceded and overlapped with the concessions from Feb 2024 to Jan 2025. This helps to confirm the contention that low unprofitable prices are the trigger which causes shortages, and the relatively low English Drug Tariffs (£1.50 to £2.78) during these periods add weight to this argument. In fact there were 40 months over the 10 year period when average market prices were below £2.00, and 69 months during which Drug Tariff was below £2.50.