Please can you keep up the pressure and email the Health Secretary

[Polaris]

A small number of rogue drugs companies are fleecing the NHS out of millions of pounds a year.

They’re exploiting a loophole that allows them to buy up the rights to everyday medicines, hike up the price, and hold our NHS to ransom. It means our cash-strapped health service is forced to spend millions on overpriced drugs rather than spending it on the care our friends and families need.

speakout.38degrees.org.uk/c...

[fbirder]

It’s estimated to cost the NHS £272 million pounds a year

Estimated by who?

Even if it is a correct amount it represents 0.2% of the NHS budget. Who wants to bet that the accounting errors are about the same.

According to the Torygraph - telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/0... - this is companies buying off-patent drugs and blackmailing the NHS. According to the article off-patent drugs are "outside NHS profit controls". Which is strange because our B12 is off-patent, yet the NHS pays a standard price to everybody who sells it to them.

The article also says -"the companies face limited competition on long-established, off-patent drugs". I'm surprised at two things -

If the competition is limited then that implies that there is competition. So why not buy from the cheaper company? Collusion to keep the price high would be illegal.

Why not buy from another country. I'll bet the stuff is being made in other countries by people who aren't trying to rip-off anybody.

[Marz in reply to fbirder]

There is only one company producing T3 for Thyroid patients in the UK and the price has gone sky-high resulting in people having this much needed medication stopped. I am reading on a daily basis on TUK that people are receiving letters confirming their worst fears.

Something that I pay just 1.15 euro for in Greece is almost 300 GBP's in the UK - so yes why are they not buying from Greece ? The Greek T3 is an even better buy as each of the 30 tabs are 25mcg and not 20 as in the UK

Mercury Pharma is the UK company which I believe is part of the investigation.

[Polaris in reply to Marz]

I'm glad you've highlighted this shocking example Marz. I wrote to JH some time ago, but had five pages of gobbledegook back ! I don't understand why there is this discrepancy, especially as we are in the EU.

My daughter was prescribed T3 by the late Dr Skinner and, like others on the Thyroid site, is dreading to hear that it will no longer be prescribed - it had already been queried when she moved to a new surgery.