UK government will not implement generic substitution of medicine; decision welcomed by ABPI and EMIG

In what is clearly a victory for the research-based pharmaceutical industry, the UK government has decided not to progress with plans for the automatic generic substitution of medicines in primary care, Health Minister Lord Howe announced yesterday.

Following a full public consultation, which was announced at the start of the year (The Pharma Letter January 6), the government has now published its response which outlines the reasons why proposals which would have allowed dispensers to replace branded drugs for generic versions when dispensing a prescription will now not be implemented for the National Health Service in England.

Doctors and other frontline health professionals have always based their prescribing decisions on individual assessments of their patients’ clinical circumstances and will continue to do so. Prescribers are free to prescribe branded or generic medicines, and nearly 85% of prescriptions written for patients are already for generic medicines.