Asda cuts cancer drugs prices

Asda says it will undercut rivals Lloyds Pharmacy, Boots and Superdrug on the price for AstraZeneca’s lung cancer drug Iressa

UK supermarket chain Asda has started selling privately prescribed cancer drugs on a not-for-profit basis.

The vast majority of drugs prescribed in the UK are done so through the NHS, where the public pays a flat charge of £7.20 per prescription.

But last year rule changes allowed patients to 'top-up' their care by paying privately for drugs, usually expensive new cancer treatments, that are not routinely available on the NHS.

Asda said its research found 63% of people were unaware private prescription prices varied between pharmacies, and 76% of people went to the same pharmacy to pick up all their prescriptions.

Mike Hobday, head of campaigns and policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said “Asda’s commitment is good news for people who can afford to buy cancer drugs privately but for the majority of cancer patients this simply isn’t an option.”

Asda says the new pricing policy is a first for cancer treatments in the UK, and called on its supermarket rivals to follow its lead and end mark-ups on cancer drugs, with Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug quickly saying they would match the pricing scheme.

Asda’s superintendent pharmacist John Evans said: “The crippling cost of paying privately for cancer treatment has forced many people to spend their savings or even re-mortgage their house to pay for these essential drugs.

“It’s a small step in the right direction but, our permanent ‘not for profit’ price on cancer treatment drugs makes them more accessible and can save people hundreds if not thousands of pounds.”

The chain, owned by US supermarket giant Wal-Mart, compared the price of seven of the most commonly prescribed cancer drugs and found that mark ups from UK high street pharmacies were as high as 76 per cent.

Asda’s report also found that Superdrug offered the highest prices on four out of the seven drugs and marked up all seven by 50% over cost price.

Prices at Lloyds and Tesco were consistently marked up by 20%, while at Boots all seven drugs were marked up by either 50% or 27.5 percent.

Asda has said it will now sell AstraZeneca’s non-small lung cancer treatment Iressa for £2,167.71 compared to £2,601.25 at Lloyds Pharmacy, £3,251.57 at Boots and £3,253.56 at Superdrug.

The supermarket is also looking to negotiate further discounts on the trade price of privately prescribed cancer drugs from its suppliers, and said that any further savings will be passed on to customers.

Ben Adams