Where you live determines access to drugs in England

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 695, p2 - 1 Feb 2014

Where you live determines accessto drugs in England

There is substantial variation in patients’ access tomedicines across England, according to a report by theHealth and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). As aresult the Association of the British PharmaceuticalIndustry (ABPI) is calling for the NHS to address theunexplained variation through the development of localaction plans.

The report, entitled the ‘Use of NICE-appraisedmedicines in the NHS in England’ found that the use ofeffective new medicines, such as denosumab to treatosteoporosis, varies by ten-fold in different areas of thecountry. Of note, for stroke prevention in patients withatrial fibrillation, the variation in the use of rivaroxabanand dabigatran is as much as 29-fold. It was also foundthat about one-third of drug groups assessed by NICEwere below the expected usage; for example, one inthree patients with metastatic renal cancer who wereeligible for treatment with either sunitinib or pazopanibdid not receive these treatments because of where theylived.

Commenting on the data, ABPI Chief Executive,Stephen Whitehead, said that "the report is a starkreminder that where you live in England still has animpact on your access to new NICE-approvedmedicines, which clearly needs to be addressed urgentlyby the NHS".Health and Social Care Information Centre. New data reveals substantial variationin patients’ access to medicines across England. Media Release : 21 Jan 2014.Available from: URL: http://www.hscic.gov.uk 809158695

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 1 Feb 2014 No. 6951173-5503/14/0695-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2014 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved