Voluntary Vs Statutory: Pharma Firms Soon to Choose Between Two UK Pricing Schemes

Raj Gathani’s commentary was included in an article from the Pink Sheet examining the finalization of the UK's Voluntary Scheme for Branded Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG). The stated aim of the VPAG is to strike a balance between patient access and affordability and support the development of innovative new medicines, especially by smaller companies. There is also a statutory program awaiting publication that companies will be required to join if they do not join the voluntary program.

Commenting on the choice in front of companies, Raj said "by around the middle of December, I think companies should have both schemes to compare against one another, and decide by the end of 2023 which scheme to follow for 2024. It isn't a huge amount of thinking-time given the complexities of these schemes. I imagine the next few weeks will see a lot of number crunching in financial teams.”

The majority of innovator companies are currently members of the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS), and "many of those will probably migrate to the VPAG in 2024," Raj said. "The statutory scheme could in theory work better for a select number of companies, depending on their product mix and the final text of the scheme. There may be scope to push the December 31, 2023 deadline down into early 2024. That is because VPAG regards Q1 2024 as a transitional period with a single flat [payment] rate, so that could in principle accommodate a longer period for companies to make their minds up if needed."