Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by David Amess (Conservative) on Monday, 9 February 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 11 February 2009. It was answered by Phil Hope (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 February 2009 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Vioxx

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the cost to the NHS of prescribing the drug Vioxx has been in each year since the drug became available on the NHS;
Answer

Information is not collected on either the gender or number of people prescribed a medicine, only on the number of prescription items dispensed. Information on the estimated number and net ingredient cost for Vioxx items dispensed in the community in England, by age group, from 1999, when the drug was licensed in the UK, is provided in the following table.Estimated number of prescription items (000s)1 Net ingredient cost

Estimated number of prescription items (thousand)¹ Net ingredient cost
Children aged under 16 and 16-18 in full-time education Elderly aged 60 and over Adults aged 16 to 59 (ex 16-18 in full time education) Total NIC (£000)
1999 0.7 91.4 70.5 162.6 3,998.5
2000 2.5 453.4 328.6 784.5 20,156.0
2001 3.7 823.8 442.3 1,269.8 33,691.8
2002 4.7 1,170.6 605.5 1,780.8 47,202.8
2003 5.8 1,394.4 728.4 2,128.6 57,055.8
2004 5.3 1,207.0 619 1,831.3 50,547.0
2005 ²— 0.5 0.4 0.9 21.0
2006 ²— 0.1 ²— 0.1 2.5
2007 ²— ²— ²— ²— ²—
¹ Estimates are based on a 1 in 20 sample of all exempt prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing doctors.
² Data have not been reported where 50 or fewer prescription items are estimated to have been dispensed during the period.
Source:
Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) data

Prescribing activity for individual primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2004—the most recent year reportable prescribing took place, has been placed in the Library. From 2005 to 2007 less than 50 items were dispensed in the community each year in a significant number of PCTs. Releasing actual figures may potentially allow the identification of individual patients. NHS Prescription Services retains these data for 60 months on a rolling basis, therefore this information is not available at PCT level prior to 2004.Information on the number of people who have suffered heart attacks or fatal heart attacks while prescribed Vioxx is not available.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
488 c667W; 256530
Session
2008-09
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP2009-0514
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects
Rofecoxib
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk