Question reference: S5W-30007
- Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 19 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 July 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the UK Government regarding the risk of the Scottish Medicines Consortium not being able to control medicine prices under a US-UK trade deal.
Answer
The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament's devolved responsibility for the NHS, social care and public health services and interventions, must be protected. The UK Government must not risk access to medicine through changes to pharmaceutical pricing and copyrighting.
The Scottish Government has not had any direct discussions with the UK Government regarding the risk of the Scottish Medicines Consortium not being able to control medicine prices under a US-UK trade deal because controlling medicine pricing is not within the role of the Scottish Medicines Consortium. Their role is to consider the clinical and cost effectiveness of medicines and whilst the price of the medicine forms part of the decision making, it is only one component.
It is deeply concerning, however, that a future trade deal by the UK Government with either the USA or anyone else might increase the price of medicines in Scotland, as research by Dr Andrew Hill of Liverpool University has observed that if we had to pay for medicines at the same per capita rate as the USA that medicines prices could more than double.