§ Lord Reaasked Her Majesty's Government:
What would be the theoretical saving in cost if all drugs prescribed by general practitioners using their proprietary name, and whose patent life has expired, were substituted by the cheapest generic alternative.
§ The Parliamentary UnderSecretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hooper):It is estimated that if all general practitioners in England were to prescribe generically rather than by proprietary name for products whose patent life has expired and assuming no change to prescribing patterns, mix or cost of products, the savings would have been in the region of £41 million in 1988.
§ Lord Reaasked Her Majesty's Government:
Given that according to prescribing analysis and costs information the proportion of drugs prescribed by general practitioners in their generic form has increased from 36 per cent. to 40 per cent. in the past two years, what this represents in cost saving.
§ Baroness HooperIn the two years up to and including 1988 there was an increase of 14.3 million in the number of prescriptions written and dispensed generically in England. It is estimated that this increase resulted in savings of around £42 million over the two years.