British Generic Manufacturers Association

The British Generic Manufacturers Association is a trade association for the British generic drug industry. It has offices in the City of London.

Mark Samuels is the Chief Executive of the association and also of the British Biosimilars Association.[1] The current Chair is Diane DiGangi Trench, head of Sandoz UK.[2] The Vice-Chair is Paul Burden, who is the Vice President of Rx UK for Thornton & Ross.[3]

The association is concerned that a no-deal Brexit could force up the price of generic drugs because it would increase regulatory complexity.[4]

It is a member of the AMR Industry Alliance, a European organization dedicated to combatting antimicrobial resistance.[5]

In 2023, ahead of the UK General Election, the association published its Manifesto outlining the key policy priorities for whichever party was to form the next Government.[6]

In 2017, it said it was working with the Department of Health and Social Care to deal with problems caused by generic drug shortages,[7] to address price gauging through a "Health Services Medical Supplies Bill". It explained that some generic drugs were produced by only one supplier "because the total market size is too small to be attractive for generic companies to enter, since they would not recoup the million-pound plus costs of developing, testing and registering a new generic medicine". This has been countered by Andrew Hill from the department of pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Liverpool.[8]

In June 2019 it reported that the NHS was, on average, paying 193% of the manufacturers' selling price for Category M products, more than 500 medicines which are readily available with wholesalers receiving half of the profit and pharmacies receiving the other half.[9]

In 2022 it called for branded generics and biosimilars to be exempted from the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access that was introduced in 2019 because the rising rebate rate “is forcing manufacturers to shun the UK market, further reducing price competition”. This is based on a new analysis conducted by the Office of Health Economics.[10]

References

  1. ^ "BGMA appoints Mark Samuels as CEO, as Warwick Smith retires". C+D. 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  2. ^ "BGMA Lines Up New Leadership With Change Of Vice-Chair". Generics Bulletin. 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  3. ^ "Paul Burden elected BGMA Vice-Chair, bringing 25 years of industry leadership - Latest Pharmacy News | Business | Magazine - Pharmacy Business". 2024-06-17. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  4. ^ "No-deal Brexit 'will force up price of generic drugs'". Health Service Journal. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Our Members". AMR Industry Alliance. 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  6. ^ "UK risks becoming a medicines supply backwater claims BGMA". www.pharmacymagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  7. ^ "BGMA: WE ARE WORKING WITH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO COUNTER GENERIC SHORTAGES". Pharmacy Biz. 29 October 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Drugs firms are accused of putting cancer patients at risk over price hikes". 2017-01-28. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  9. ^ "NHS pays twice the price for generic medicines that manufacturers charge, finds report". Pharmaceutical Journal. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  10. ^ "UK rebate mechanism could force market withdrawals, warns BGMA". Chemist and Druggist. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.