§ Mr. BellottiTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what measures the Bio Products Laboratory has introduced to conform to fair trading and fair competition practices as currently apply to the commercial plasma industry in the United Kingdom since 1 April;
(2) from what date the Bio Products Laboratory will start charging for whole blood and plasma derivative products such as Albumin and Factor VIII at prices that accurately reflect the total costs including blood and plasma collection, Factor VIII BSM royalty and product licence application fee costs;
(3) what measures are being taken to ensure the maintenance of a free market and free competition between the public and private plasma industry; and how clinical choice, pricing, research and development, investment and patient safety will be maintained.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyIt has been the policy of successive Governments that this country should be self-sufficient in blood products derived from plasma donated by our unpaid voluntary donors. This position is consistent with the more recent decision by the European Community to promote a policy of Community self-sufficiency based on voluntary blood donation.
We also recognise that doctors should be free to prescribe the most appropriate product for their patients in the light of the available clinical information. NHS clinicians may, therefore, prescribe blood products from commercial suppliers and not just those from the Bio Products Laboratory.
Within the overall policy we intend that BPL should compete fairly in terms of the service, quality, and price of its blood products.
For this reason we introduced cross-charging in 1989 and reversed the previous arrangements whereby BPL products were supplied free of charge in return for plasma. The removal of Crown immunity from 1 April 1991 brought the BPL products within the scope of the formal licensing arrangements under the Medicines Act.