Generic medicines

PSNC tells contractors to ‘exert maximum pressure on wholesalers’ to drive down price of pregabalin

Contractors struggling to source pregabalin at list price since restrictions placed by NHS England limiting the use of generic pregabalin were lifted have been told by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee to “exert maximum pressure on wholesalers” to drive down its price.…

NPA produces identification checker for insulin dispensing

The National Pharmacy Association has produced a series of tables to help pharmacists and staff select the correct insulin when dispensing against generic prescriptions.…

Market competition a predictor of changes in generic drug prices, concludes US study

A decrease in market competition is strongly associated with an increase in the price of generic drugs, according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.…

Design for dispensing: how far can we go to make packaging safer?

It is a decade since the National Patient Safety Agency issued guidance on medicines packaging design in a bid to reduce the risk of dispensing errors. But medicines that sound alike or look alike are still responsible for a large proportion of errors. A collaborative approach between manufacturers,…

New legislation passed to prevent excessive price hiking of generic drugs

A new law which aims to bring tougher price control to unbranded generic drugs received Royal Assent in the House of Commons on 27 April 2017.…

NHS report promises ‘over 1,300’ pharmacists in GP surgeries by 2019

More than 800 additional clinical pharmacists could be working in GP surgeries within the next two years, according to plans announced on 31 March 2017 by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England.…

EMA calls for suspension of generic drugs after concerns about quality of data

A list of generic drugs — including 41 that are available in the UK — have been recommended for suspension across the EU because of doubts over the quality of the bioequivalence data used to grant their national marketing authorisation.  The European Medicines Agency, the EU&r…

Prices for generic cancer drugs in the UK have soared over a five-year period, conference hears

The price the NHS pays for some generic cancer drugs has risen by between 100% and more than 1,200% over the past five years, according to research presented at the European Cancer Conference held in Amsterdam.…

Branded and generic cold and flu remedies will work the same if the ingredients and dose are the same

21 December 2016: Professor Jayne Lawrence, chief scientist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), featured on website MoneySavingExpert.com. Commenting on identical branded and generic cold and flu remedies, Lawrence said: “If the active ingredients, the dose and the formulation are the s…

Teva agrees to pay US$519m to settle corruption charge

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s largest generic medicines producer, has agreed to pay US$519m after an investigation found that it had paid bribes to foreign government officials in Russia, Ukraine and Mexico.…