Press Release

QUALITY OF DIABETES CARE AND INDUSTRY INVESTMENT THREATENED BY DRUG TARIFF CHANGES

Birmingham, 29 March 2006. The British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA) has raised concerns that changes to the Drug Tariff system, following The Department of Health’s consultation exercise, will have a significant negative impact on patient welfare for people with diabetes and lead to a reduction in innovation within the industry. Doris-Ann Williams, Director General of BIVDA called on the Department of Health to ensure that any restructuring of the drug tariff would take into account the level of investment in R&D and support services delivered annually by providers of diabetic products..

Speaking at the Diabetes UK Conference in Birmingham, she said “Our members supply 98% percent of diabetes testing products and they provide an extensive range of complementary support free of charge to people with diabetes and primary care facilities worth more than £16 million annually to the NHS budget. We answer over 600,000 calls which would otherwise be handled by non-specialists at NHS direct each year and in 2004 we invested over £140 million in research and development. Whist we accept that there is a need to review the status quo, a ‘one size fits all’ solution in relation to the products contained in Part IX is simply not workable and would restrict patient choice whilst being detrimental to patient welfare in the long term.”

BIVDA believes that the current Drug Tariff system has delivered choice to patients, additional support and education for both patients and professionals and good value to the NHS. The fixed prices on the tariff and healthy competition within the sector have allowed chemical reagent providers to supply additional high-quality services aimed at improving concordance free of charge to patients and healthcare professionals.

Patient concordance is the focus of the products and added services which providers currently offer under the Drug Tariff system. This lowers the long-term cost to the NHS by allowing patients to control their condition and reduce the likelihood of serious complications.