The chemist and druggist, 18/25. December 2010 (issue 6778)

mm y § ■ ZONE 19 Eczema: part 2 21 Pharmacokinetics 26 Category M Category M Barometer Generic Eric reveals how January's tariff will affect your pharmacy he category M tariff will see a continuation of stability into the New Year, with a marginal addition to the reimbursement pot of 1.2 per cent. The adjustment is in the region of a £4.5 million addition, once market growth has been factored in. This will see almost £340 added to the average pharmacy's generic purchase profits over the coming quarter, or £113 a month. Despite the overall stability, however, out of 442 products, just 29 remain at the same reimbursement level as last quarter. Most of the savings to the NHS have been made by reducing the reimbursement price for risperidone 4mg tablets, which this quarter loses 87 per cent of its value. Other prominent reductions are topirimates and the losartans, which have taken a further knock for the third quarter since they entered the tariff last year. There have been 10 other significant additions to the category, in addition to risperidone, and many of these were in the top 10 decreases in reimbursement (see What's not, right). This quarter sees the removal of just two products: ascorbic acid 500mg tablets and flucloxacillin 125mg/5ml oral solution. The new basket of category M products is worth £1.35 billion, up £16.3m. The Category M Barometer index has now decreased from 103.9 in the previous quarter to 102.6 for this quarter. On the most commonly dispensed lines by volume, reimbursement prices have decreased on only seven products this quarter. In fact, an annualised amount of £7.8m has been added to these lines (£75m removed last quarter). For the average pharmacy this equates to £163 per month being added to the bottom line (if whole market volumes are used and just the top 20 lines are dispensed). ■ Whnt's hot The 10 products with the largest rise in price Pack size October tariff price (£) January tariff price (£) Change (£) Co-fluampicil 250mg/250mg capsules 100 37.65 69.14 31.49 ▲ 84% Glyceryl trinitrate 500mcg sublingual tablets 100 3.27 5.69 2.42 A 74% Sertraline 50mg tablets 28 1.15 1.62 0.47 A41% Gabapentin 100mg tablets 100 3.57 5.02 1.45 A 41% Bendroflumethiazide 2.5mg tablets 28 0.79 1.06 0.27 A 34% Oxybutynin 2.5mg tablets 56 6.58 8.71 2.13 A32% Cefradme 500mg capsules 20 4.50 5.95 1.45 A 32% Co-tenidone 100mg/25mg tablets 28 1.57 2.07 0.50 A32% Gabapentin 400mg capsules 100 5.53 7.16 1.63 A29% Piroxicam 0.5% gel 60g 2.01 2.56 0.55 A 27% The 10 products with the largest fall in price Pack size October tariff price (£) January tariff price (£) Change (£) Risperidone 4mg tablets 60 30.32 3.96 -26.36 87% Amisulpride 100mg tablets 60 30.73 14.55 -16.18 53% Topiramate 100mg tablets 60 12.52 6.23 -6.29 50% Methotrexate 2.5mg tablets 100 14.96 7.51 -7.45 50% Topiramate 25mg tablets 60 6.17 3.17 -3.00 49% Alfuzosin 2.5mg tablets 60 20.37 11.39 -8.98 44% Topiramate 200mg tablets 60 17.21 9.88 -7.33 43% Brimonidine 0.2 per cent eye drops 5ml 6.55 3.78 -2.77 42% Topiramate 50mg tablets 60 10.74 6.23 -4.51 42% Losartan 100mg tablets 28 2.84 1.74 -1.10 39% Data and analys s supplie d by Actavis CPD Reflect • Plan • Act • Evaluate |