Mark Samuels, chief executive of Medicines UK, said: "The significant uplift in the VPAG rebate rate underlines why it was so important the changes in the last negotiated scheme recognised the difference between older and newer medicines. The new 22.9% rate reflects the sizeable increase in what the NHS has spent on new medicines in 2024, compared to 2023. This represents a nearly 15% increase in the year to date, or nearly £1bn more. This compares to a predicted spend of 4.1%, so it is inevitable that the rebate rate for 2025 would have to sizeably increase to reflect the reality of the market.
"The predicted 2024 growth rate on spend on older medicines was 4.6% and the actual assumed spending on older medicines is 4.56%, showing that it is entirely appropriate that on-patent and off-patent medicines are treated differently under VPAG."