Why does a year's supply of HIV drugs cost up to £1,000 more in the UK than in most other EU countries? David Terry investigates
It costs the UK £1/2 million per lifetime for each person who becomes
HIV positive (Positive
Nation April). These days, the cost of drugs accounts for the biggest
chunk of the bill for most patients.
I recently visited the pharmacy at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, one
of London's leading HIV clinics, to find out about the cost of drugs.
The pharmacist I spoke to had a box of 3TC (brand name Epivir) on his
desk. The price for the 60-tab pack was £163.59 per month, net.
But if you add on VAT, it's £192.22.
Astonishingly, hospital pharmacies such as St Mary's have to add VAT to
their costs. High street chemists don't. Why?
3TC is manufactured by the UK firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), but this pack
came from France. The prescription details on the box were printed in
French and an English patient info label had been stuck over the top.
In France, the price of drugs has to be shown on the packs something we
might press for in this country. This pack of 3TC cost 1,191 French francs.
That works out at about £1,374 for a year's supply of 3TC for a
French patient, as compared with a maximum of about £2,338 for an
English patient.
That's 70 per cent more. Are we paying through the nose?
In the UK, agreed prices for all drugs are published in the British National
Formulary (BNF). You can compare European prices by looking at the figures
published by the European Aids Treatment Group (EATG).
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According to the EATG's figures, France and Spain charge around £1,200 for a year's supply of 3TC. Only Germany among major European countries
