Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure Buprenorphine remains affordable in light of the drug's recent increase in price.
As a consequence of a supply issue affecting buprenorphine earlier this year, some suppliers of buprenorphine have run out of stock and, as a result, the market price has been increasing since May 2018. The increased purchase price is reflected in the reimbursement price paid to pharmacies, to ensure that supplies remain available to patients. The market for buprenorphine has generally been competitive and we expect the supply situation to improve over the coming weeks which is likely to result in an increasingly competitive market.