Pharmaceutical policy in the UK

For many years drug price regulation posed few public management problems. However, the overall NHS drugs budget has been increasing by almost 9% per annum over the past decade. Governments in the 1990s tried to control this growth by introducing new pharmaceutical policy instruments. This has led t o an element of instability in the regulation of the pharmaceutical industr y, which is affecting NHS financial programming, as well as R&D investment decisions by companies. This article recommends the creation of an office f or drug regulation (an 'OFDRUG) to reintroduce stability into pharmaceutica l policy.