ABSTRACT
The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is responsible for providing all aspects of healthcare to its citizens, including control of pricing and supply of pharmaceuticals. NHS England remains responsible for direct commissioning of services outside the remit of clinical commissioning groups, namely primary care, public health, offender health, military and veteran health and specialised services. Market authorization is granted through the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or through the Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA) who hold the formal drug registration authority in the UK. The voluntary Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), controls profits of UK branded pharmaceutical companies. New Chemical Entities (NCEs) have free pricing as long as the company remains within the PPRS profit guidelines. In England Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) commission the majority of health services, including emergency care, elective hospital care, maternity services, and community and mental health service. Risk sharing is the most popular discussion item among pharmaceutical market access and pricing specialists.
