‘Skyrocketing’ drug costs leaving pharmacy owners with 'impossible choice'

'Skyrocketing' drug prices are leaving pharmacy owners having to dispense at a loss or leave patients without their vital medicines.

Tabarak Sadik, a pharmacy owner in Barnet, London, said the cost of common medicines like aspirin and bisoprolol had ‘skyrocketed’ leaving many pharmacy owners with an impossible choice.

‘‘Do we dispense at a loss or let a patient go without their life saving blood pressure medication? This is now a decision we're having to make dozens of times a day,’ he said.

Mr Sadik added that the current system – whereby the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) temporarily raise the reimbursement price of these medicines – does not go far enough.

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He said: ‘The price concession being offered is too low. These prices are not reflective of what every pharmacy contractor can procure these medicines at, which begs the question: where is the DHSC getting these prices from?’

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), said that there had been ‘sharp and sudden increases’ in the price of everyday medicines.

Giving aspirin as an example, she said that a pack of 100 dispersible tablets had risen from £2.46 to £9.96, while a smaller pack had gone from 69p to £2.80 in just a few weeks.

Dr Hannbeck added: ‘NHS reimbursement is not keeping pace with the real cost of medicines. Pharmacies are being forced to pay higher prices upfront, only to be reimbursed months later and often below the true market rate.

‘We are seeing sharp and sudden increases in the price of everyday medicines. These trends are accelerating and leaving pharmacies dispensing essential medicines at a loss.

‘Unless this gap is urgently addressed, it will place further strain on the sector and ultimately risk patient access to vital treatments.’

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The IPA has warned that ongoing market volatility, rising acquisition costs, and delays in reimbursement were putting community pharmacies in an ‘untenable’ position of dispensing drugs at a financial loss.

The association said that pharmacies cannot pass the costs on to patients but if they make the ‘difficult decision’ not to supply a medicine because it would leave them out of pocket they risk being deemed in breach of their NHS contractual obligations.

It called on the sector to commission independent legal advice clarifying the rights of pharmacy contractors operating under ‘inoperable’ conditions.

Th IPA has also previous raised concerns about medicine shortages due to the Iran War, writing to health secretary Wes Streeting last month calling for immediate action to prevent worsening medicine shortages.

The president of the new Royal College of Pharmacy, Tase Oputu, said rising medicine prices required ‘urgent government action’.

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She added: ‘Our recent report on medicines shortages called for reforms of the reimbursement system for community pharmacies and this has become ever more urgent in the face of global shocks. This will put further strain on already stretched pharmacy teams.’

‘With continued pressures on NHS budgets, it will be more important than ever to ensure that pharmacists can help maximise the benefits from medicines for patients and the NHS.’