Drug companies have strongly refuted the charges of over-pricing put against them by the chairman of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Prof Sir Michael Rawlins has accused drug firms of making profits by selling new medicines at 10 times of their production cost.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) hit back at the chairman for making baseless charges.

NICE was criticised by the industry for not granting approval to the expensive cancer drugs.

According to Sir Michael, it was a pressure tactic by the drug firms to earn more profits by hiking prices. He claimed that the hike was largely linked to profit-driven share prices and the salaries of the company executives, resulting in the increased prices.

Sir Michael adds that pharmaceutical companies had been reaping the benefits of double-digit growth all these years, and are pushing hard to maintain that trend.

ABPI informs that it did not see any linking of drug pricing with employee pay packets or company profits. According to its spokesman, Prof Michael is ignoring the huge contribution of the pharmaceutical companies to public healthcare and its initiatives in reducing drug prices. He points out that drug prices in the UK have fallen by 21% in the last ten years. The spokesman also claims that pharmaceuticals have made massive investments in research and development work, an average £550m, which is bound to reflect in drug prices; a  fact that is being overlooked by Prof Michael.

Things to consider:
Organic Cosmetics sold here cheaper
Hairloss Lucinda Ellery