science

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme rather than just read about it. In short: The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) is the mechanism used by the UK Department of Health to ensure that the NHS has access to good quality branded medicines at reasonable prices. It was originally called the Voluntary Price Regulation Scheme (VPRS) and involves a non-contractual agreement between the UK Department of Health and The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

Key takeaways

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) is the mechanism used by the UK Department of Health to ensure that the NHS has access to good quality branded medicines at reasonable prices. It was originally called the Voluntary Price Regulation Scheme (VPRS) and involves a non-contractual agreement between the UK Department of Health and The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). The scheme applies to all branded, licensed medicines available on the NHS. The purpose of the scheme is to achieve a balance between reasonable prices for the NHS and a fair return for the pharmaceutical industry. The current PPRS scheme, using a value-based pricing mechanism, came into effect on 1 January 2014, to run for no less than five years. It replaced an earlier scheme running from 2009 to 2013. In December 2014 Hoffmann-La Roche successfully appealed against a decision of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisal committee in respect of Kadcyla on the basis that it should have considered that under the scheme, the industry had agreed to cap growth in the drugs bill to 0–1.9% a year for the next five years. Roche said this had "fundamentally changed" the nature of how NICE should consider cost effectiveness. On 23 August 2017, the UK Government launched a consultation relating to the PPRS, following legislation that was recently passed.

Purpose and objectives As the primary buyer of medicines in the UK, the Department of Health has an interest in ensuring medicines are available at reasonable prices. However it is also important that pharmaceutical companies, represented by the ABPI, are able to maintain sufficient levels of profit and competitiveness to enable them to invest in sustained research and development. The 2009 PPRS agreement outlines its primary objectives as to:

Deliver value for money Encourage innovation Promote access and uptake for new medicines Provide stability, sustainability and predictability

Patient access schemes

The 2009 PPRS agreement allows for patient access schemes. These allow for the provision of a drug which would not otherwise be supported by NICE and available on the NHS due to insufficient evidence of its cost-effectiveness. Patient access schemes can be either financially based or outcome-based. Financially based schemes are where the company does not alter the list price of the drug but offers discounts or rebates linked to numbers or types of patients treated, response of patients treated, or the number of doses required. Or, alternatively, the company may alter the list price. Outcome-based schemes take place when a company agrees to a later increase in price, or a rebate, once the value of the drug has been proven. Alternatively risk-sharing agreements can be put in place whereby outcomes are measured and price adjustments take place accordingly.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

In research: Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics National Health Service, Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom, Pharmaceuticals policy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme in simple terms?

Why does Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme.