5 Live Investigates

Adrian Goldberg presents cutting edge investigative journalism. An open letter to the Prime Minister in the British Medical Journal accuses drug companies of charging too much for medicines used in the treatment of rare diseases. But that's just one way in which the pharmaceutical industry protects its bottom line - and puts additional financial burden on the NHS. 5 live Investigates looks at the tactics used by the industry to keep prices high. They try to keep blockbuster drugs under licence - to prevent the manufacture of cheaper alternatives. Once a drug comes off licence, its price can drop by eighty percent. One delaying technique is to slightly alter a drug just as its licence comes to an end - and put the revised formulation under a new licence. Such techniques - some industry insiders say - is costing the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds a year. We speak to Warwick Smith from the British Generic Manufacturers Association; Alan Maynard, Professor of Health Policy at the University of York;