Author: Selina McKee

Early renegotiation of the current drug pricing system in the UK could leave the pharmaceutical industry short-changed, if the government’s plans to generate substantial savings from the NHS drugs budget go ahead.

The National Health Service is wasting a whopping £100 million a year on prescribing proton pump inhibitors for treating indigestion, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.

The government’s much-publicised drive to cut referral to treatment times to under 18 weeks by the end of the year has no chance of succeeding, claims a report by independent social-policy think-tank Civitas.

SkyePharma is due a payment of $2 million from US group Sciele Pharma, after US regulators opened the door to all doses of its new formulation of Sular.

UK group Acambis has kicked off the year with a good start, announcing encouraging results from a Phase I clinical trial and a preclinical challenge study of its candidate flu vaccine.