THE UNITED STATES announced a deal with Britain for zero tariffs on pharmaceutical products and medical technology on Monday which will lead to Britain spending more on medicines. The deal included an increase in the percentage of the state-run National Health Service (NHS) budget that is spent on medicines.
“The US and the UK announce this negotiated outcome pricing for innovative pharmaceuticals, which will help drive investment and innovation in both countries,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greersaid.
USTR said that Britain would increase the net price it pays for new medicines by 25% under the deal. In exchange, UK-made medicines, drug ingredients and medical technology would be exempted from Section 232 sectoral tariffs.
Two sources familiar with the deal said it involved a major change in the value appraisal framework at NICE, a UK government body that determines whether new drugs are cost effective for the NHS, the sources said. NICE’s “quality adjusted life year “measures the cost of a treatment for each healthy year it enables for a patient, with the upper threshold being £30,000 per year.
US President Donald Trump has pressed Britain and the rest of Europe to pay more for US medicines, part of his push for
US medicine costs to be brought more in line with those paid in other wealthy nations. The pharmacutical industry has criticised a tough operating environment in Britain and some major firms have cancelled or paused investments, including Astra Zeneca, the largest firm on the LSE.
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