Big Phar­ma has harsh words for UK's bal­loon­ing vol­un­tary re­im­burse­ment agree­ment

In the af­ter­math of Ab­b­Vie and Eli Lil­ly leav­ing the UK’s vol­un­tary drug pric­ing agree­ment in Jan­u­ary, some Big Phar­ma ex­ecs are still rais­ing ques­tions about an agree­ment that in­creas­ing­ly puts the cost of brand­ed med­i­cines on the com­pa­nies — as the agree­ment is set to ex­pire at the end of this year.

The is­sue re­volves around the coun­try’s “Vol­un­tary scheme for brand­ed med­i­cines pric­ing and ac­cess,” or VPAS — an agree­ment be­tween in­dus­try and the UK gov­ern­ment signed in 2019 in a bid to keep the prices of cer­tain med­ica­tions af­ford­able.

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