BRIEF—BMS chief warns about investing in UK

The chief executive of Bristol Myers Squibb has warned that the US pharmaceutical company could divert investment away from the UK because of the expansion of a levy designed to limit the National Health System (NHS) medicines bill, told the Financial Times.

Giovanni Caforio also said low pricing for medicines purchased by the NHS from pharmaceutical companies was an issue that threatened the UK’s ambition to become a life sciences leader.

The scheme – known as the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) - is an agreement between the health department and the pharmaceutical industry that requires drug companies to pay 15% of revenues from their products to the government if the NHS bill for medicines rises more than 2% annually.