Trump drug price threat could 'cost NHS billions'

Pressure from Donald Trump to hike UK drug prices could wipe billions from the NHS budget, causing suffering to the “vast majority of NHS patients”, experts have warned.

- REBECCA THOMAS HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

Health think tank, the Nuffield Trust, urged the government not to give in to the demands of pharmaceutical companies to raise prices, warning that the threshold for spending on new drugs is already too high.

It says a new deal will only trigger further increased price demands and make healthcare in the UK more expensive.

The warning comes as Sir Keir Starmer looks set to bow to President Trump’s demands to pay pharmaceutical companies more money, including increasing the threshold the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) sets for spending on new drugs by 25 per cent.

The move is believed to be an attempt by the government to avoid a wave of new US tariffs over what President Trump believes to be anti-competitive practices by the UK.

However, in a report shared exclusively with The Independent, the Nuffield Trust warned that the current Nice threshold is already too high in terms of delivering value for money, as it does not take into account the cheaper benefits to the population of spending more money on GP access, A&E and surgeries.

"Pharmaceutical company shareholders will benefit, but the vast majority of NHS patients would suffer, if this comes at the expense of improving wider NHS care," Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst for the Nuffield Trust, said.