The companies will now come under the alternative statutory scheme imposed by the government through law, demonstrating what the ABPI describes as ‘the depth of feeling that the current voluntary scheme is damaging the UK life sciences industry’.
Introduced in 2019, the VPAS deal is a long-standing agreement between the government, NHS and medicine manufacturers, designed to limit the cost of drugs for the health service while also supporting industry innovation.
The scheme caps the growth of NHS branded medicine spending at a nominal rate of 2% per year, with the industry returning any spending beyond the cap in the form of a levy.