The UK drug industry is taking the NHS to court over a new price cap on medicines. The drugs price cap is a disaster for patients, but the solution is not taking the NHS to court – it’s tackling the greed of big pharmaceutical companies.

The pharmaceutical industry has established itself firmly at the top of the Forbes list of the most profitable industries in the world. A significant contribution is made by public health services like the NHS. But seemingly, that’s not enough. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has applied for a judicial review against the NHS over its attempt to protect its crumbling budgets from corporate rip-off.

The knowledge that the treatment you need exists, but isn’t available to you, is a more common experience in the UK, as the NHS has to resort to rationing and even straight out rejection of new drugs because they’re too expensive.

The NHS now rejects a third of all new cancer drugs over cost-efficiency concerns, leaving many cancer patients unable to access the treatment they need. And because of astronomical costs, the NHS has had to ration a new groundbreaking cure for hepatitis C to only the very worst cases of more than 200,000 people, leaving the vast majority to continue to suffer from the disease.

Many are quick to point the finger at the NHS over lack of access to medicines. But the fact of the matter is that rising drug prices, together with austerity measures, are destroying our health service. The rise in NHS drug costs in the last five years has now hit more than twice the entire NHS deficit of £1.85bn. It’s because of these skyrocketing drug prices that the NHS took the decision to place a price cap on new drugs earlier this year, allowing them to delay the introduction of new drugs that would cost more than £20m pounds a year.

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves The elderly “We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population,” Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a “honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments”, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called “very serious problems at some hospitals” by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunt’s plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that “key members” of Ms May’s team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been “ducked by government over the years”. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a “humanitarian crisis” and said health funding was at record levels. “We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need,” said the Prime Minister. “They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required… Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.” But doctors accused Ms May of being “in denial” about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise – introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2000 – should only be for “those who actually need it”. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had “less stringent” rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of “hiding” from the public eye following news of the Red Cross’s comments and didn’t make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying “the public will want to know, Mr Hunt”. “Sorry Beth, I’ve answered questions about this already,” replied Mr Hunt. “But you didn’t answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didn’t want to water it down. Is that what you’re saying?” said Ms Rigby. “It’s very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then won’t answer the question, Mr Hunt”. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty

If we want to secure better access to medicines, we must tackle the problem of high drug prices, and this means transforming the whole way new drugs are developed. Pharmaceutical companies argue that high prices are due to research and development costs. But almost all of the biggest pharmaceutical companies spend substantially more money on marketing than they do on research.

Last year Gilead, the American pharmaceutical giant behind the above-mentioned hepatitis C cure, boasted a 45 per cent net profit margin – which would be unheard of in most industries – while almost 400,000 people died of the now curable disease globally.

This gives some idea of the extent of the problem globally. Imagine the impact on people in countries which don’t even have accessible health systems. The pharmaceutical industry has proved time again they cannot be trusted with the control of vital medicines we need. If we want access to new medical treatments, we need to rethink the way they are controlled.

The UK pours huge sums of money into medical research and development. Globally, taxpayers are the biggest funders of early-stage medical research. But because of few or no conditions of our research, pharmaceutical companies can take over that research and market the resulting drugs at considerable profits. The only way to heal the gaping hole drug prices have cut in NHS finances, it to make sure that we at least demand affordable prices from the drugs that are developed with our tax money.

For the sake of our NHS – and for the billions of people globally who cannot access the medicines they need – we must take back control of the health technology that our tax money is paying for. If we’re lucky, we end up paying twice for our medicines. If we’re unlucky, the consequences are even worse.