The move to value-based pricing of drugs will go ahead despite there being "more work to do" on the system, the government has confirmed.

Negotiations on implementing system are due to start with manufacturers next year, with value-based pricing introduced in 2014, the Department of Health (DH) following a consultation on the new system, published on Monday (July 18).

The move to the system, which would see drugs priced by efficacy rather than under Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), was necessary to modernise the NHS, according to health secretary Andrew Lansley.

"[Health professionals] must be able to focus on what matters most – achieving the best health outcomes for their patient, not debating the price of a drug", Mr Lansley added.

However, the government acknowledged there was "more work to do", warning plans to give drugs different prices for each indication would "be extremely difficult to put into practice given the limitations of existing pharmacy and prescribing systems".

The system would also need drugs to be reviewed as new evidence emerged, Community Pharmacy Scotland warned in its response.

PSNC urged the government to learn from past mistakes, adding that changes to branded medicine distribution had cost the NHS at least £400m already through reduced competition.

A total of 188 organisations and members of the public responded to the consultation on the value-based pricing system, which was announced as part of the NHS reforms last year.