New drug system could save NHS money and get medicines to patients faster

The Social Market Foundation, in conjunction with Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX), have today released a new report on designing a new drug system to save the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) money while also getting medicines to patients faster.

Changing how the NHS buys drugs could deliver better outcomes for patients and value for money, says a new report from the Social Market Foundation think tank. The report, Outcomes-based reimbursement of medicines, argues that the NHS should adopt a new way of paying for drug treatments, based on whether or not treatments improve patients’ health. Adopting an outcomes-based system of purchasing medicines could result in better value for money because the government would only pay for what works.

This approach would also mean that new drugs could be made available to patients faster. Currently, the effectiveness of drugs is typically assessed before the treatments are made available to patients, which can be a time-consuming process. The report suggests that this process could be reversed, with the evidence gathering process on the effectiveness of drugs gathered in the field at the same time that patients have access to them, which could speed up patient access to new treatments.