§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) why he has allowed Astra Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to increase the price charged to the National Health Service of its drugs by an average of 27 per cent;
(2) why he has allowed A. H. Robins Co. Ltd. to increase the price of its drugs by an average of 29 per cent. and, in particular, to increase the price charged to the National Health Service of certain counter packs, details of which have been sent to him, by 12 per cent.;
(3) why he has allowed the Wellcome Foundation to increase the price charged to the National Health Service of a drug, details of which have been supplied to him, by 44 per cent.;
(4) why he has allowed Searle Pharmaceuticals to increase the price charged to the National Health Service for certain drugs, details of which have been sent to him, by 25 per cent.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe freeze on drug prices which followed the 2.5 per cent. average reduction in prices from 1 August 1983 ended on 31 March. Since then we have judged all applications for price increases on the new and more stringent rules of the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme that I announced on 8 December 1983, at columns 477–79.
We continue to follow the rules of the scheme which we inherited from the previous Government. This means that we give approvals to increase prices on the basis of a judgment of the global sum necessary to enable the company to achieve its agreed profit target. How that sum is distributed between increases in prices of individual products within the company's range is left largely to its 416W discretion. Consequently, while in the instances quoted prices of some products have increased by relatively large amounts, others in the same companies' ranges have not increased at all. The effect on sales and profits of the company also depends on the volume of sales of each product. All the percentage increases quoted are therefore misleading, and some of them are incorrect.