§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the cost of the pharmaceutical management of Parkinson's disease in England. [162566]
§ Dr. Ladyman[holding answer 22 March 2004]Information is available on the cost of prescription drugs used to treat Parkinson's and related disorders that are dispensed in the community in England. We do not hold data centrally on the overall pharmaceutical cost of Parkinson's Disease (data on drugs dispensed in hospitals/clinics or private prescriptions).
The British National Formulary, section 4.9, identifies a group of drugs that are used for Parkinson's and related disorders. In 2002, 2.8 million items of drugs used in Parkinson's and related disorders were dispensed in the community in England. They had a net ingredient cost of £69.6 million. However, these drugs are not necessarily given only to people with Parkinson's and people with Parkinson's will receive drugs other than this group of drugs.
The data have been obtained from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system from the Prescription Pricing Authority which covers all prescription items dispensed in the community in England.