PSNC has accused some wholesalers of manipulating the medicines market by hiking the cost of generic drugs in short supply.  

PSNC said it had received reports of some wholesalers "deliberately inflating prices" and telling contractors that NCSO prices would be granted, it said in its drugs tariff update on Monday (April 29).

The manipulation of the market is making the burden of generic shortages "increasingly complicated" and is having an impact on pharmacists in some regions across England, it said.

Manipulation of the market is making the burden of generic shortages "increasingly complicated", PSNC claimed	More on stock shortages Sign C+D's petition to sort out stocks Video: Pharmacists speak out on shortages Government group piles pressure on manufacturers        over stock shortages MORE NEWS
	The British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (BAPW) told C+D this week that it believed all of its members were behaving responsibly.

But PSNC called for contractors to challenge wholesalers because, it said, some pharmacists had successfully questioned the higher prices. It would not provide any more details on where pharmacists had reported price inflation or their success in challenging it.

"It is vital that contractors continue to challenge wholesalers where they are charging prices that are significantly above concessionary prices," it said.

PSNC said it was "in urgent discussions" with the Department of Health (DH) to come up with a long-term solution to deal with generic shortages and told C+D it was developing a replacement for the existing NCSO and price concession system.

"Our aim in these discussions will be to find a solution that is both fair for all contractors and that will minimise the opportunities for market manipulation," a PSNC spokesperson revealed.

BAPW executive officer Martin Sawer, who defended the nine large wholesalers he represents, said he would welcome a conversation with the DH, PSNC and the British Generic Manufacturers Association "to see if standards can be agreed".

An independent contractor who did not wish to be named said he had heard of dozens of cases of pharmacists who had experienced price manipulation in various parts of the UK.

"Somebody sits on the stock somewhere and then they release it into the market at inflated prices," he told C+D.

When the price concessions were announced, "low and behold the price falls in the market", he added. "That to me is clearly manipulation."

Oxfordshire pharmacist Stuart Gale told C+D he was not aware of price manipulation but said pharmacists were not in a position to bargain. "If someone needs their tablets you can't just wait. You have to buy it there and then."

"The NCSO has got to go because that just encourages people to set high prices because they can," he added.

Arvinder Gill, a pharmacist manager in Blackfen, south-east London and Bexley LPC treasurer, said he had seen some prices increase eight-fold in the past few months, although he was not aware of them being manipulated.

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