§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 11 June 1999,Official Report, column 416, if he will list the cancer centres in the West Midlands. [88734]
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§ Mr. HuttonThe following hospitals in the West Midlands Region have designated cancer centres:
- University Hospital Birmingham National Health Services Trust
- Walsgrave Hospitals NHS Trust
- Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
- North Staffordshire NHS Trust
- Royal Shrewsbury Hospital NHS Trust, which is a joint cancer centre with North Staffordshire Hospital Trust cancer centre.
These centres are designated for treating certain types of cancer, and not necessarily all cancers
§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the percentage profit made by drug companies on each individual drug used in cancer treatment. [88729]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Government indirectly control the prices of branded prescription medicines supplied to the National Health Service by the pharmaceutical industry through the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS). Companies have freedom of pricing for new medicines launched on the market, although the PPRS controls the profits that pharmaceutical companies are allowed t make through their trade with the NHS.
Under the PPRS, pharmaceutical companies are required to submit annual financial returns to the Department of Health reporting, among other things, sales, research and development expenditure, other costs and profits. These returns, however, are reported in aggregate form. It is not possible, therefore, to identify separately the profits made by pharmaceutical companies on individual medicines.