A purchaser perspective of managing new drugs: interferon beta as a case study

Many new drugs in the future will be very expensive and have major resource implications. Given current structures and legislation covering the prescribing of drugs, there are no clear means of controlling the use of these drugs to avoid diverting money away from other health care services and into drug treatment. This paper considers what mechanisms might be used by a purchaser to manage the introduction of an expensive new drug and uses interferon beta-1b for treating multiple sclerosis as an example. The most likely mechanism is the prescribing of the drug by a general practitioner on the advice of a neurologist. This would achieve a good benefit for the resources invested but would not control total expenditure. Devolving a limited budget for the drug to a specialist centre so that neurologists may prescribe it directly would be preferable, as this would link clinical, prescribing, and budgetary responsibility. These issues need to be addressed urgently by purchasers if major disruptions of services are to be avoided.