UK National Audit Office to examine US drug deal — Politico Europe

The UK National Audit Office (NAO) will conduct preliminary inquiries into the cost of the agreement with the United States on drug prices. NAO head Gareth Davies instructed his team to begin them after six chairs of parliamentary committees called for clarification of how much the arrangement would cost taxpayers and whether it provides proper value for money, Politico Europe reports.

NAO preliminary inquiries

Davies said that he had instructed the team to conduct preliminary inquiries because of Parliament’s significant interest in the arrangement. Once the initial inquiries are complete, he is to contact the committee chairs.

The letter to the audit office was signed by the chairs of the Health and Social Care, Science, Innovation and Technology, Business and Trade, Northern Ireland Affairs, Scottish Affairs, and Welsh Affairs committees. The lawmakers stressed that without a comprehensive assessment of the agreement’s impact in the coming years, Parliament and the public cannot fully assess its long-term consequences for the National Health Service budget and public spending.

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Terms of the arrangement

Under the terms of the agreement, the United Kingdom committed to double spending on innovative medicines by 2035, from 0.3% to 0.6% of GDP. In return, three years of tariff-free access to the US market is envisaged.

The British government estimates the cost of the agreement at £1 billion within the current budget planning period. No additional funding is planned to be announced in this year’s budget. At the same time, officials are not disclosing the full cost of the arrangement, citing a possible negative impact on international relations and commercial interests. According to Davies, parliamentary scrutiny of the agreement itself was limited, and the government does not plan to publish details of its modelling of the costs and benefits.