Imagine knowing there is a drug that could cure your illness or extend your life, but it is so expensive that that you cannot access it. This is the heart wrenching situation that parents of children with cystic fibrosis are facing. Despite years of price negotiations between the government and the drug-maker, Vertex, the drug Orkambi is still not available on the NHS because the company is charging a staggering £105,000 for each treatment.
The NHS is increasingly having to reject or ration drugs because of high prices, leaving patients without access to effective treatment. The NHS drugs bill was a staggering £18.2 billion last year, an increase of 4.6% from the previous year. Even with the financial boost announced for the NHS, the drugs bill is still rising faster than the NHS budget.
Rising prices in the UK can also have a ripple effect around the world as other countries reference their prices to the UK. And Donald Trump and the US big pharma lobby are setting their sights on the NHS and its ability as a centralised buyer to negotiate prices with big pharma in a future US-UK trade deal. This trade threat could exacerbate the high prices that the UK already faces and worsen the global crisis of high drug prices, with deadly consequences.
