An epilepsy pill price hike of 1,300% has raised eyebrows given that the healthcare authorities have, in reality, had no choice but to accept the massive increase.
The US company at the centre of the price hike, Essential Phrama, claims that the monumental price hike is vital to “ensure the continued supply” of the epilepsy pill, but with such huge costs usually having to be borne on healthcare authorities and patients, questions must be asked.
In the UK, it’s common for such huge price hikes to be investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA); the competition watchdog whose job is to ensure fair competition that’s in the interests of consumers.
Pharmaceutical companies and massive price hikes for drugs have been in the news a lot recently, together with CMA investigations finding competition breaches in the pharmaceutical sector. We have published the details of a few stories ourselves, and it’s an incredibly important market to keep a very close eye on.
In an age where our NHS is stretched in terms of resources, and drastically underfunded, we cannot have scenarios where the NHS is being “taken for a ride” over the prices of essential drugs like epilepsy pills, nor can we see a lack of competition or any kind of anti-competitive behaviour for any sector supplying to the NHS.
The NHS can be notorious for not pursuing good deals and being easily overcharged by companies who know they won’t have to negotiate. Although private profit-making organisations are of course there to make money, it’s a shame that the NHS can be taken advantage of in such a way. Vital medication like epilepsy pills are, for patients, vital to survival. If a company targets this factor by knowing that there will always be a market for such a drug, it is wrong where that’s the motivation for hiking prices up by such an extent.
Although prices do increase naturally with the markets, price hikes in the thousands of percent must be thoroughly investigated.