HC Deb 05 December 1966 vol 737 cc915-6
6. Mr. Gwilym Roberts

asked the Minister of Health if he will take steps to bring the drug industry into public ownership to avoid the competitiveness in this field.

Mr. K. Robinson

I cannot usefully comment on this proposal in advance of the report of the Sainsbury Committee.

Mr. Roberts

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that duplication of research and wasted expenditure on advertising detracts from the efficiency of this industry? Is he aware that on this side of the House there is a strong suspicion that in certain sections of the industry private profit takes priority over human health?

Mr. Robinson

The matters to which my hon. Friend has referred are certainly within the terms of reference of the Sainsbury Committee.

Mr. Fisher

In considering these matters, will the right hon. Gentleman always bear in mind that his hon. Friend is really advocating a State monopoly on the lines of the system that operates in Russia, where notoriously no new drugs are being produced and where the industry is about the worst in the world?

Mr. Robinson

I assure the hon. Gentleman that I shall, as always, bear all the relevant considerations in mind; but I think that we had better await the report of the Committee.

Mr. Braine

May I remind the right hon. Gentleman, concerning his hon. Friend's suggestion, that the Department's statistics show that competition between drug firms has had the effect in recent years of sharply reducing prices?

Mr. Robinson

That may be true in one or two cases. Competition where there are patents to the extent that there are in the pharmaceutical industry is, of course, limited.