[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

the NHS is already making choices though on what drugs they can use and those treatments that are too expensive.

The pharmaceutical companies invest huge amounts to bring products to market and get zero help from governments usually. They also have to pay for those drugs that got rejected along the way for a multitude of reasons. So, when a company releases a drug, it is patented, and during that period, they can charge what they like. These drugs of course tend to be the cutting edge ones that make a real difference.

Once the patent period ends, other companies are free to make generic copies of those drugs at vastly reduced prices. It is NHS policy to always use the generic variants when they are available, but they are held to ransom during the patent period if a company decides to charge the earth for a product. The NHS won't and couldn't afford to do the research that the big pharmas do.

That seems to be the opposite of what's happened in this instance, the patent holder has sold the licence to another company ...it's them that have hiked the price, they didn't develop or patent the drug.