HC Deb 02 April 1984 vol 57 c408W
Sir Dudley Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the annual profit made by pharmacists who import pharmaceutical preparations from abroad and who then charge his Department with the full British price.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

It has not been possible to ascertain, with any degree of reliability, the extent of the gains which some pharmacists are acquiring from parallel. imports. As I said in reply to my hon. Friend on 27 March at columns134–35 we are hoping to produce as soon as possible a workable system which gets us a supply of drugs at fair and competitive prices.