Health
Breakdown in UK Drug Pricing Talks Threatens Pharma Investment
The UK has long secured significant discounts for the drugs it provides on the NHS.
Photographer: Andy Buchanan/WPA/Getty ImagesLengthy and increasingly fraught negotiations on drug pricing between the UK government and major drugmakers ended without an agreement on Friday, a stalemate the industry warned puts future investment at risk.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting called time, with the government saying its offer to increase spending on medicines and lower the amount companies pay back to fund the National Health Service was “unprecedented.” Pharmaceutical CEOs wanted talks to continue, requesting to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer.