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NHS: Private Sector

Volume 487: debated on Tuesday 10 February 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that the arrangements for patients to pay privately for treatments that the NHS will not pay for do not act as a disincentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop cheaper treatments. (256025)

The 2009 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) recognised that it is in all of our interests to encourage research and reward innovation, which is why, for the first time, it promotes the uptake of cost-effective innovative treatments. At the same time, the PPRS will ensure that the national health service gets better value for money. The PPRS will deliver efficiency savings and includes new arrangements on flexible pricing and patient access schemes to ensure that value is better reflected in pricing.